Ghost Lover
by Ormandria
Summary: Is blood really thicker then water? A visit from Egon's favorite cousin starts a chain of events that puts the theory to the test. Rated T for violence and minor language. CHAPTER 16 IS FINALLY UP, PLEASE R&R.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the Ghostbusters, Slimer, Janine, the firehouse or any other aspect of the cartoon series or the movie. Victoria and Jasper, however, are my creations (as are any other new or unique characters not seen in the cartoon series or the movies) and permission must be sought before they are used by any other person. So if you want to use them, ask. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised.**_

_**Ormandria

* * *

**_

Ghost Lover

By Ormandia

"There!" Winston exclaimed as he pushed himself out from under Ecto-1. "All finished."

"Good," replied Ray, letting the hood fall back into place. "I'd hate to get caught out on the freeway and have her drop the transmission on us again."

"Wouldn't have happened in the first place if someone had actually been paying attention to where they were going," Winston let his voice carry across the room to where Peter sat at Janine's desk, reading a magazine.

"Hey, it's not my fault. They should really post signs around if they're going to do road construction."

"They did!" Ray and Winston spoke in unison.

Sighing Ray looked over at Winston. "And he wonders why we don't let him drive more often," he said.

"I'm back!" Janine called, coming through the front door. "Can someone help me here?"

"Here, I got it." Winston took some of the bags that were overloading her arms and began to head for the stairs.

"Gee, Janine," Ray remarked. "Are you sure you didn't over do it a bit?"

"Egon wanted me to make sure that we had the fridge stocked. And you know how Slimer likes to eat everything in sight. I had to make sure that we had more then enough."

"Yeah, I guess so. He's really excited about Victoria's visit, isn't he?"

"Are you kidding?" Peter piped in, laying his magazine down on the desk. "All he's talked about for the last two weeks was her visit. Or haven't you heard?"

"Well he's proud of her, ya know," shrugged Janine. "She's his favorite cousin and if everything goes well with this trip she'll be doing her post-graduate study at his Alma-mater."

"Boy, she must be pretty smart if she can get into Egon's Alma-Mater," Ray commented as he grabbed a bag of pretzels from one of the grocery bags that Janine was still holding. She glared at him, pulling the rest of the sacks out of his reach.

"According to Egon she's a mechanical engineering genius."

"So she's either really ugly, or she has the personality of a toadstool," Peter grimaced.

"I wouldn't know about that," said Janine. "This is the first time I've ever met the girl."

"I just wish Egon would get this excited about seeing me," she added under her breath.

"Oh don't worry Janine," Peter put his arm around the secretary in mock sympathy. "We're always excited to see you. Right, Ray?"

"Um. Right! Especially when you bring food!"

"How wonderful of both of you," she replied, her voice laden with sarcasm.

* * *

Egon was just putting the final touches on his new invention when Janine brought the rest of the groceries up. She placed the sacks on the counter and walked back toward Egon. Slimer was busy yelling enthusiastically at a TV car chase and Winston was no where in sight. Janine could only assume that he had gone to take a quick shower to get the grease and oil off of himself.

"What is that?" she asked, looking at the odd contraption.

"It's an ecto-plasm wave de-amplifier."

"An ecto-plasm what?" she asked, confused.

"An ecto-plasm wave de-amplifier. You remember that class 10 we fought last week?"

"Oh, you mean the one that nearly ripped me in two and had poor Slimer crying for his mommy ?"

"That's the one," Egon replied. "It took us three days to catch it and that was almost three days too long. Well, this little device takes a ghosts ecto-signature and decreases the amount of ecto-plasm output that said ghost can produce. With it, theoretically speaking, we should be able to weaken any ghost that proves to be a problem, making it that much easier to catch."

Janine felt herself blush. It had not been much, but that one little statement from Egon was enough to let her know that he did indeed care. He tightened the last screw in place before looking up at the groceries on the counter.

"Oh good, you got the shopping done."

"Yeah," she nodded. "We should have enough to feed an army for about a month."

"Which means that between Peter, Ray and Slimer, it should last two days," Egon finished for her.

"Yup."

Egon looked up at the clock and noticed the late time. "Shoot. I'd better get cleaned up. Victoria will be here within the hour."

Suddenly a loud crash, followed by a string of curses rang out downstairs. Looking at each other in surprise, Egon and Janine ran for the stairs to find out what was wrong, with Slimer close on their tale.

"Get it Peter!" Ray called out from behind Ecto-1.

"You get it Ray!" Peter called out from behind his desk. Egon saw that the lockers had been pushed over, making it almost impossible to get to the packs, let alone the traps. Meanwhile a large blue blur was flying erratically around the room knocking over almost everything that it came in contact with. A strange noise emanated from it, not unlike the noise a cat might make if its tale was being ripped out.

It flew at the two people and one ghost on the stairs, leaving them to try leaping out of the way. Janine fell to her knees instinctively, while Egon jumped from the stairs onto the floor below. Slimer was the only one that did not get out of the way in time. The blur collided with him and both ghosts disappeared through the back of the stairs.

"What was that thing?" Egon asked Peter, who had crawled around to him.

"Some blue slime-ball," he retorted.

"It came in, saw us and freaked out," Ray added from his hiding spot. "We didn't even have a chance to react before it started trashing the place."

"Well we need to find it and capture it before Victoria gets here!" Egon exclaimed.

"Actually," came a fairly amused feminine voice from the front of the firehouse. "Victoria is already here."

Everyone raised slowly from there desks to see a slim young woman with long blonde hair that had been pulled back in a ponytail. Thin gold-hoop earrings accented the length of her neck. She stood almost as tall as Egon, but that and the hair were where the resemblance ended. She wore tight-fitted blue jeans and a semi-casual white blouse. There was an easy-going manner about her as she eyed the group decisively.

"And," she continued, ignoring Peter's sudden puppy-dog look of love. "That blue slime-ball, as you so quaintly put it, is Jasper…. _My ghost_."

She surveyed the damage around her and shrugged apologetically. "Sorry about the damage."


	2. Chapter 2

Before anyone could react Slimer came racing back through the stairs with the blue blur on his tale. Immediately the blur stopped and looked at Victoria while Slimer slammed himself into Peter for protection.

For the first time Egon got a good look at the blue ghost as it streaked into Victoria's arms, crying. It was not too unlike Slimer, save that it was blue, had a red claw-like appendage on its tail, smaller red claws on its hands and was slightly thinner. Egon stood as he watched his cousin comfort the frightened ghost.

"That thing belongs to you?" Janine asked.

"Surprised?" Victoria returned with a smile.

"Well I am," Peter remarked. "Egon you didn't tell me she was gorgeous."

Egon ignored Peter as he walked up to greet his cousin. As soon as he got within arms reach though, Jasper buried himself even further into Victoria's chest.

"Sorry about this," she said to Egon before turning her attention back to her ghost. "Come on Jasp. It's okay. This is my cousin Egon. You remember I told you about Egon. He's nice." Jasper looked up at Egon, tears seeping from his wide eyes. It took only a moment for Egon's heart to melt.

"Hi," Egon said in a soft voice as the others slowly walked up to the trio. Even Slimer came out of hiding to wave at Jasper from the back. Now that he knew he wasn't going to get attacked, he could afford to be brave.

Jasper glanced up at Victoria, who smiled and nodded. He then pushed away slightly and glided to Egon, who patted him gently on the head. The ghost visibly relaxed and smiled.

* * *

"So where did you pick him up?" Ray asked a bit later as everyone sat around the table, save Slimer and Jasper. Slimer was busy showing Jasper around the firehouse.

"From my mom's shop," Victoria replied.

"You mean he's the ghost that kept wrecking the flower shop?" Egon asked.

"Yup. Turned out that he was just a frightened little thing. All the damage was from nerves. Or lack thereof. Anyway, he apparently took a liking to me and followed me to college. After a few months of problems there, I finally had it and started yelling at him," Victoria explained. "Mind, I had never actually seen him at that point. I just knew it was a ghost and I was tired of it. Apparently I hit a nerve. I found him crying in the closet a few minutes later. It took a lot of coaxing to get him out. Once I did though, we became friends pretty quick. And once he relaxed, he stopped wrecking everything."

"Must have made your mom happy to get him out of the store," Egon took a sip of soda.

"You don't know the half of it," Victoria laughed. "I think she was ready to throw a party in my honor."

"So does the mini-spud talk?" Peter asked. He had noticed that Jasper had not spoken a single word to anyone.

"No," Victoria shook her head. "I can't be sure, but I don't think he's able."

"How do you communicate with him then?" questioned Ray.

"Empathy," Egon stated before Victoria could answer. "Right?"

Victoria smiled and nodded.

"Empathy?" Janine looked over at Egon.

"Victoria's mother is an Empath. She has the ability to sense other people's emotions, including ghosts. That's why, even when the ghost was wrecking the flower shop, she was always loathe to get rid of it. She once told me, years ago, that she knew it wasn't a bad ghost, but it was still annoying." Egon looked back at his cousin. "I'm guessing you inherited her talent?"

"Yes," Victoria nodded. "And it isn't an easy one to live with."

"How bad does it get?" Egon asked.

"Sometimes I actually feel the emotions of the people around me. If I'm not careful I can lose myself and not know where I end and they begin. Nasty business that. Enough to drive me bonkers if I'm not careful," she laughed lightly. "That's why I prefer the company of machines."

"So how do you stop it?" Ray interjected.

"I just had to learn to close myself off when it gets too bad. It's hard at first, but it gets easier over time."

"Can you tell what I'm thinking?" asked Peter in a suggestive way.

"It's empathy Peter, not mind-reading," Ray retorted.

"He's right," added Victoria with a bright smile directed at Peter. "Besides, I don't need either mind-reading or empathy to know you're a womanizing letch."

"I am deeply hurt by that," Peter pouted.

"Well, don't tell me that," Victoria said as she nodded toward Egon. "Tell him. He told me _all _about you."

Peter glared at Egon as the latter cleared his throat and stood up.

"Egon …" Peter started.

"It's getting late," Egon remarked in a forced casual voice. "We'd better get to bed now." With that he hurried out of the room with Peter hot on his tail.

"But it's only seven o'clock," whined Ray.

Winston came out of the bedroom, a wet towel draped over his shoulder and wearing clean clothes. He looked back behind him at the disappearing figures of Egon and Peter.

"Did I miss something?" he asked as he regarded those still seated at the table.

"Just Peter being Peter," Janine informed him. "By the way, Winston Zedmore, this is Victoria, Egon's cousin."

"Hi," Victoria reached her hand out.

"Hey," Winston took her hand and shook it. "So you're the super genius we keep hearing about." He took the seat Egon had just vacated.

"I suppose so," Victoria smirked. "Though I wouldn't exactly call it genius."

"Hey, if Egon thinks you're smart, you must be," Ray commented. "So when is your interview?"

"Four days," she answered. "I decided to come early because I figured that it would help my bid if I could show the dean and the head of the sciences department my skills. I figured the best way to do that would be to build something from scratch. And where else better to do that then here?"

"Well I could think of a few," Janine scoffed. Victoria laughed.

"Yeah well, you might be right. But Egon does have some of the equipment and parts I'm gonna need for my little experiment and those I can't get elsewhere."

"So you already know what you're going to make?" Winston asked, reaching across to Ray's bag of pretzels and grabbing a handful.

"Yup."

"Well don't keep us in suspense," prodded Ray. "What is it?"

"A secret," Victoria smiled. "But let's just say that Egon's many stories of you guys helped inspire it."

Winston stopped with a pretzel halfway to his mouth, to look at Ray and Janine. "Somehow that doesn't comfort me," he said.

"And this is the most important room, the kitchen!" Slimer exclaimed as he and Jasper bounded back up the stairs.

"Woo!" Winston leaped back from the table at the sight of Jasper. "What's that?"

Jasper looked over, saw Winston and immediately rocketed back to Victoria for safety. Slimer followed and patted Jasper's back.

"That's okay," he told his fellow ghost. "It's only Winston. He's good too."

"Oh," Ray lamented. "You scared the little fella."

Victoria proceeded to speak quietly to Jasper, trying to calm him down.

"Sorry," Winston replied guiltily, though he was not quite sure why he should feel so guilty.

"Winston, this is Jasper," Janine explained in a whisper. "He came with Victoria. He's a bit shy and over sensitive."

"A bit?" Winston looked at the ghost skeptically. "Would never have guess." He leaned in a bit closer. "Sorry little guy. I didn't mean to scare you."

Jasper looked up, his round gold eyes landing on Winston's now smiling face. He smiled a touch and satisfied that Winston was not going to attack him, turned back to Slimer expectantly.

"Come on, let's go play video games," Slimer said as he took Jasper by the hand and led him away to the TV.

"Is he always like that?" Ray asked.

Victoria shook her head. "No. Just in new places with new people. Although once he gets comfortable he does have a tendency to get a little mischievous."

"Mischievous? How?"

"Well, for instance, I'd pay close attention to doors if I were you. He has a fondness for closing and opening things when you least expect it. Especially doors, whether it's a normal door or a cabinet door. If he pops out at you to scare you, then you'll know he really likes you. He also likes to play hide and seek with stuff that he knows you like. But if you tell him you need it right away he'll pull it out of its hiding place for you. Just general stuff like that." Victoria looked at her watch. "Well, I know it's not that late, but it's been a long day for me and I've been up since four this morning, central time. I am beat."

"Here, let me show you where you'll be sleeping." Janine stood up. "You'll be sleeping in Peter's Office. Don't worry though. We walled it off temporarily and put a nice bed in there for you."

"Thanks," Victoria yawned as she followed Janine back downstairs.

Winston looked over at the two ghosts, immersed in their video games. "Just what we need," he sighed. "Another prankster."


	3. Chapter 3

Peter sat up groggily, listening for the noise that had awoken him from his deep slumber. It was still dark, and a quick look at the clock told him why. It was only 4:43 in the morning. When the noise did not repeat itself, he stood up and walked to the window. There was always the chance that he had caught the tale-end of some fight outside, or a car back-firing.

As it turned out though, he was wrong. The sound of something heavy falling and then being caught, along with a muffled curse echoed from inside the building. Peter turned around and headed for the bedroom door. He paused momentarily to look at Slimer, who was fast asleep over Ray.

Peter walked over to the stairs, listening intently. He peered around in the dark and saw a light on under a doorway to his left. Someone was in the lab. Without thinking Peter tip-toed to the television to grab the aluminum bat that Slimer had left there earlier in the day. Hefting it with one hand to make sure he had a steady grip, he made his way back to the door of the lab.

More noise drifted through the door, along with more angry mutterings. The Ghostbuster slowly opened the door, bat raised for an attack, and stopped dead in his tracks. It was only Victoria. She stood in the lab, her back to Peter, trying in vain to right a huge double-sided chalkboard that was tilting dangerously toward her without mussing any of the writing on it. Peter put down the bat and walked over to assist.

"Oh!" Victoria nearly lost her grip as Peter grabbed one of the chalkboards sides. "You startled me."

"Well, that's what happens when you go sneaking around in the middle of the night. You're lucky I didn't club you with my bat."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Together the pair managed to put the chalk board back into a standing position.

"So are all these equations yours?" Peter asked as he looked over the board. Victoria shook her head.

"No. They were already here. I was trying to get to the blank side to use it for notes when the whole thing started to fall on me."

Peter laughed. "Here, let me help you." He pulled the board out a bit further from the wall and flipped it around so that the blank side faced out.

"Thanks," Victoria smiled.

Peter turned to the table behind them, on which sat a device that reminded Peter of a cross between a toy castle and a TV. It was surrounded by all manner of electronics, motors, wires and other odds and ends. "So um, what exactly are you planning on making? A radio controlled version of the Taj Mahal?" he asked sardonically.

"Nothing quite that complex I'm afraid," came the answer as Victoria started drawing a diagram on the chalk board.

"Could have fooled me." Peter picked up a small, black metal ball with a rather large looking antenna sticking out from it.

"Promise not to say anything if I tell you?"

"Scouts honor."

Victoria paused in her drawing an stared suspiciously at the brown-haired Ghostbuster. "Funny, you don't strike me as the Boy Scout type."

"A mere technicality," Peter remarked in a huff. "I'll have you know that they only kicked me out because I let a few raccoons into the meeting hall as a joke."

Victoria laughed again, then nodded to the strange device on the table.

"It's a type of matter compressor."

Peter put done the small black ball and antenna he had been looking at to look at Victoria instead. "A matter compressor? Isn't that a bit much for a college project?"

"Actually," Victoria sighed as she picked it up. "It was supposed to be an ecto compressor. Egon's always going on about how many ghosts you guys have to catch and how big some of them are. I got to thinking that your containment unit isn't going to hold out forever. Sooner or later you will run out of room. So I thought if I could find a way to compress the ecto energy, or the ghosts, that it would give you guys up to ten times more room for storage purposes."

"Well, I'll admit, that would definitely be helpful," Peter mused.

"Yeah, except that so far I've only been able to compress matter, and even that is on a small scale."

"So that's why you needed Egon's lab …." Peter finished for her.

"Yup. With his equipment I should be able to get the dynamics worked out and have it up and running hopefully in the next day or two."

"That soon?"

"Well, I did say hopefully," Victoria replied. "Like I said though, I would like this to remain just between you and me for now if you don't mind. I'm hoping to surprise Egon with it."

Peter ran his finger and thumb across his mouth. "My lips are sealed."

"Thanks. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Peter nodded as he turned to head back to bed and Victoria returned to her work.

* * *

"So, um, is there anything that you might need help with in there?" asked Egon as he tried to peer around Victoria to get a glimpse into the room beyond. It was no use though. She had herself position just right between the slightly opened door and the door jam as she smiled at her favorite cousin.

"Nope," she stated in a slightly bemused voice. "I have everything I need and I promise you that I am almost done. You should have your lab back by this afternoon."

"Yes, well, it isn't that I mind you using my lab and all. It's just that …"

"It's just that he's afraid that his wittle wabby poo won't remember himsy if he stays away too wong," interrupted Peter in a baby's tone.

"Do you mind Peter?" Egon asked a he readjusted his glasses. "I'm trying to have a serious conversation here." But when he looked back up the door was once again closed and locked. Egon sighed in defeat.

"Don't look so down Egon," Ray commented. "She said she'd be done by this afternoon and I'm sure she will."

"She's been working on that project for three nights and days now Ray. And she won't even tell us what it is she's working on. For all we know, it could be a bomb." Egon paused to look at the shocked faces of his co-workers. The only person not to look up was Janine, who was busy eating a cruller.

"Not, um, that she'd, um, actually make something like that," Egon blushed furiously.

"I thought you trusted your cousin," Winston remarked.

"I do," Egon straightened up. "It's just that she's a lot like me in some ways."

Winston narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Oh, I see. So you've made a bomb before?"

"We'll…" started Egon. "It wasn't exactly a bomb per say…. It was more of a high school science project gone awry."

"And you couldn't have mentioned any of this before we let the female mad scientist into our midst?" Winston continued.

"It didn't seem important at the time." Egon looked back at the closed door with worry.

"Well Peter knows what it is," said Janine as she grabbed another cup of coffee before heading back down the stairs to her desk. "She told him a few nights ago."

Egon turned on Peter. "Well?" he demanded.

"She made me promise not to tell," Peter shook his head.

"I'm her cousin. I need to know." He grabbed Peter's shirt collar.

"Actually, you were the last person she wants to know. And a promise is a promise," Peter reiterated as he took Egon's hands off his shirt.

"So how come Janine knows you know?" Egon asked.

"Who knows? She's a receptionist. It's her job to know what goes on around here," Peter shrugged.

"Besides, the woman probably has camera's hidden everywhere," he muttered under his breath.

Egon looked as though he were about to argue the point when the all too familiar wailing of the sirens sounded throughout the building.

"_We got one!"_ Janine yelled from downstairs, sending the Ghostbusters racing to Ecto-1.

Victoria poked her head out of the door and smiled. Only a few more adjustments and she would finally be done. Then she could surprise the guys with a live demonstration.

* * *

"So how does this thing work?" Janine asked as she helped Victoria move it gently to the table they'd set up in the main garage area.

"It's hard to explain, but basically put, it should condense the ectoplasm of a ghost enough to shrink it in actual size."

"Like running it through a trash compactor?" Janine asked.

"Well, yeah," Victoria replied. "Exactly like that. Only without all the mess."

The doors to the firehouse opened and Ecto-1 slide in to a halt about three feet from the table.

"And just in time," the young woman smiled as her cousin and his friends exited the car.

"So is this it?" Peter came running up to get a look at the strange device.

"Yup," Victoria said.

Egon and the others gathered around, with Ray holding a steaming trap high above his head.

"It looks like a radio controlled version of the Taj Mahal," Ray stated.

"It's not, trust me." She pulled part of the base of the device up, creating a small satellite like dish.

"So what is it?" Egon asked.

"Egon, gentlemen, let me present to you, the first ever … Ectoplasmic Compressor!"

"Hey," shouted Ray excitedly. "That's great!"

"What exactly does it do?" asked Egon.

"It compresses ectoplasm," Ray said, mystified that Egon wouldn't have figured that out by the name.

"I know that," Egon sighed heavily. "What I mean is, how does it do what it does?" Something about the look of the device was setting him on edge and he wasn't sure what it was. One thing was for sure and that was that the device looked particularly dangerous to him.

"Here, let me show you," Victoria answered. "I tested it earlier on some ectoplasm samples that you had in the lab and then Jasper let me test it out on him as well, once I knew he'd be safe."

"You tested it out on Jasper?" Ray asked, a bit concerned.

"Yeah," Victoria responded. "But like I said, that was only after I preformed several other tests. Now back up please gentlemen."

They backed away as Victoria took aim at the bottom of the stairs.

"Jasper!" she called. The blue ghost came whizzing into the room with his new friend Slimer, and came to attention in front of Victoria. She smiled and patted him on the head.

"Jasper, I need you do me a favor. I need to demonstrate the EC to the others so I need your help again, okay?"

The ghost looked wearily at the device. The look on his face spoke volumes. He was willing to do it, but he wasn't going to like it. He had already been through it once before and the finishing feeling had been one of being crammed in a small can of soup with no way out. Still, he went and positioned himself in the place where the device was aimed and waited.

Victoria pushed a small switch to warm the machine up and was getting ready to press the activation button when Ray let out a howl.

"Slimer!" he yelled, as the ghost pushed by him so that he could watch too. The push unbalanced Ray just enough to cause him to drop the trap he had been carrying. As it hit the ground, it flew open, releasing a nasty looking grey ghost that was twice the size of Slimer.

"Quick!" yelled Winston in a panic. "Get it!" The ghost began flying around the room and grabbing stuff to hurl at the people below.

"Damn!" cursed Peter. "It took us all day to catch that thing too!"

Jasper panicked, looking for a place to hide. Victoria ran up and grabbed him, holding him tight as the ghost floated above them.

"What is it?" she cried.

"A class 9 free-floater!" returned Egon. "Ray the trap!"

"Real nasty one too!" added Ray as he fiddled with the trap. He was having a hard time landing the trap under the thing. "Can someone please turn on their packs and hold that thing still?"

"_NO!"_ yelled Egon. "Not until we know what that device does! I don't want any of the beams hitting it!"

"Alright!" Ray replied.

It was only a few moments, though for Victoria it seemed much longer. Several things happened at once, that she would later have great difficulty recalling. Ray managed to get the trap into position just as the grey monstrosity hurled two items in two different directions. One, a rather large brick, was sent flying at Victoria, causing her to let go of Jasper, who began to flew away in terror, just as Ray opened the trap. The second object was a baseball from the top of the lockers, that flew past Ray and hit the Ecto-Compressor's activation switch, sending a beam out that encompassed Victoria in the center and everything in a five foot radius.

White light poured from the device, temporarily blinding everyone in the room. When it finally cleared, Victoria lay slumped on the steps while the trap's red alert button flashed to signal that the ghost had been caught.

"Victoria!" Egon screamed as he noticed his cousin, who's arm was bleeding severely from where the brick had hit it.

"Is she okay?" Janine asked as she ran up. A slight groan from Victoria belayed her worst fears that the girl might have been killed.

"I think so," responded Egon. "But we need to get her to a doctor. I think her arm was crushed. Ray, get that thing and put it in the containment unit, now!"

Ray nodded numbly as he grabbed the trap and headed downstairs.

"Winston, get Ecto-1 started!"

"Already on it," he replied as he started the engine.

"Peter," Egon whispered desperately, but Peter didn't let him finish. He was already helping Egon lift the unconscious girl up to carry her to the car. Peter had known Egon for years, and though they fought a lot, they also knew each other better then anyone else. It had only taking Peter one glance at Egon's pale and clammy face to know that he had lied to Janine. Victoria was not okay, and Egon wasn't sure if she was going to be either.

As they carried her to the car, Peter looked back at Janine. "When Ray is done downstairs, I want you two to meet us at the hospital in you car." He knew that Egon would need to be surrounded by all of his friends right now. Janine nodded, still in shock herself as Slimer quivered behind her.

None of them noticed as Victoria's eyelids flickered open momentarily to revealed deeply glowing red irises.


	4. Chapter 4

Ray and Janine made it to the hospital about twenty minutes after the others. They entered the emergency room to find Egon passing the floor frantically, as Winston and Peter looked on with worry.

"Any news?" Ray asked quietly as he walked up to Peter.

"Not yet. The docs said they'd let us know as soon as they know anything."

"So how's Egon holding up?"

Before Peter could answer his friends question, a nurse walked into the waiting area, headed to woman in sitting in the corner, only to be accosted by Egon.

"Excuse me," the blonde ghostbuster said, forcing the nurse to stop. "Can you please tell me what's happened to Victoria Alderat? We brought her in a little bit ago."

"I'm sorry sir," the nurse gently removed Egon's hand from her shoulder, looking at him sympathetically. "I don't anything about that case. Please excuse me." With that she made her way to the woman in the corner and led her into the ER.

"I'm guessing he's not holding up to well," Ray commented. Egon punched the wall next to him, startling several other people in the room, including the nurse and a rather large orderly.

"Dammit!" he yelled.

"Excuse me sir, is there something I can help you with?" asked another nurse, who had rushed into the waiting room when she heard the commotion. Although from the sound of her voice, it was clear that she had no intention whatsoever of being helpful.

"He's really sorry," Peter interjected as he grabbed Egon by the shoulders and steered him away from the nurse before he could say something that might provoke the woman into a semi-justifiable action. "He's just a little emotional at the moment."

"Well then," remarked the nurse, barely keeping her voice restrained. "I suggest that you find a way to calm him down. If you can't, I'll have to ask the two of you to leave the premises."

"Understood," Peter nodded, leading Egon to the chairs where Winston and Janine were sitting with Ray standing next to them.

"Egon, I know your worried, but you really do need to calm down before you get us kicked out of here. Being overly-emotional is not going to help Victoria."

"Peter, I'm not…"

"Yes, Egon, you are."

Egon sighed heavily and sank into a chair. He leaned over, letting his face fall forward into his hands. After a moment of remaining frozen in that position, he ran his fingers up over his head and through his hair as he took a deep breath.

"You're right Peter. I'm sorry," he replied, once again the picture of his normal composure.

"Mr. Spangler?" came a voice from behind Peter and Ray.

"Yes?" he said, standing quickly. Peter and Ray moved aside to let the doctor through to their friend. "How is she?"

"Her arm's not broken, but it did substain a fairly bad gash, so we've bandaged it up. Other than that, she appears fine," replied the doctor."She's regained consciousness and all her vitals are normal, but we'll still want her to stay overnight. There's always the possibility of a concussion, and with her having come in unconscious, well, you understand that it's better if we have a night to observe her to ensure that she is, indeed, all right."

"Yes, I understand. Can we see her now?"

"I don't see why not. She's been moved up into a normal room on the third floor for now. Room 316 to be precise. One of the desk nurses can point the way and one of them can even make up a cot for you if you want. As for the rest of you, I would ask that you keep your visit short and restrained. She still needs to take it easy and get her rest."

"No problem," smiled Ray. "We won't stay too long."

With that, the doctor turned and left them as the Ghostbusters and secretary made their way up to the third floor.

* * *

Victoria opened her eyes and looked around her. She knew where she was almost immediately, though the events that had brought her here remained a blur in her mind. She shuffled through them haphazardly, trying to grasp at the thin tendrils of thought in the hopes that she could rearrange them to make some semblance of sense. Unfortunately it was as if she was trying to trap water in a sieve.

Between her and the other, too many thoughts filled her head and all she could seem to latch onto was that something in her experiment had gone drastically wrong. It didn't help any that the doctor and nurses kept asking her the most ridiculous questions.

"_How many fingers am I holding up?" "What year is it?" "How old are you?" "What's you name?" "What city are you in?"_

At one point they had her so confused with questions that she blurted out that Theodore Roosevelt was the current president of The United States. This surprised them all so much that it gave her the moment she needed to clear her head and give them the correct answer after a severe apology.

After which they finally seemed satisfied and decided to simply move her into a more congenial room for overnight observation. She had been in there all of five minutes before Egon and his friends and colleagues came tromping into the room.

"Hey guys," she grinned wearily at the bunch.

They chorused back with a variety of hellos as Egon came to rest at the edge of her bed, a look of brotherly concern on his face. Victoria was suddenly reminded of how overprotective he had always been of her.

'_I hate you.'_ The thought,almost ancient in its tone,rose unbidden in her mind as a very raw sense of anger welled up inside her throat, throwing her off balance for the merest of seconds.

"Victoria?" Egon eyed her worryingly.

"What?" she asked suddenly, as though she just realized he was there.

"I asked if you're okay?"

"Yeah," she said as she pushed her earlier thought and feeling to the back of her mind. "I'm fine."

"Okay," he nodded, though he sounded unsure. As Victoria looked up at the others, she could tell that they were not necessarily convinced either.

"Really guys, I'm fine. They going to keep me overnight and then tomorrow I'll be back at the fire station …." Her face took on a total look of horror and she clasped her hands to her mouth, as she stared at the wall behind the Ghostbusters. "Oh my God."

"What is it?" asked Ray, as he and the others whirled around quickly to met whatever vile thing Victoria was looking at, only to see that nothing was there.

"I forgot the Ecto-Compressor. It's still on."

"Oh that?" laughed Ray. "Janine and I shut it off."

"You did?" she looked up at Ray.

"Yeah," remarked Janine. "We even put it back in the lab so that no one could mess with it while we were gone."

Victoria sighed in relief. "Thanks. I still need that little machine to get me through the interview tomorrow afternoon."

"Actually, I called the dean and explained about the accident. I was able to move you're appointment back to Saturday," Egon replied. "I figured that gives you an extra day to rest up and recuperate."

"Thanks, Egon," Victoria smiled.

"Are you sure you should be messing with that thing anymore?" asked Winston. "It almost fried you back there."

"You know, Winston's right," commented Egon. "I'm not so sure I like the idea of you taking that thing into the school for a demonstration. I wouldn't want you to lose your life to some under-developed device that looks like a child's play toy."

_"It's not a play toy!"_ she snapped back, jaw tight, causing everyone in the room to flinch. Forcing herself to relax, she continued. "It's not a play toy. It's my future and true, I almost got fried back there, but the point is that I didn't. Besides, everything would have worked fine if it hadn't been …." She tried to focus back on her earlier thoughts of the events leading up to the accident, but they remained as elusive as ever.

"For that grizzly-ghastly that got lose?" asked Peter with a slight smirk.

"Yeah," Victoria laughed. She put her hand over Egon's and looked him in the eye. "It'll be fine Egon. Trust me. I know from whence I speak."

"Alright," responded Egon with a smile as he clasped his free hand over his cousin's.

_Hate. Kill. Torture._

Victoria jumped very slightly at the foreign thoughts that seemed specifically geared toward her cousin.

"Listen," she said, silently sending up a prayer of thanks that no one had noticed her reaction or could hear what was transpiring in her head. "I'm a bit tired. I think I should get some sleep now."

"We'll head back to the station then," Peter said. With that he retreated from the room, Winston and Janine following closely behind.

"You staying here Egon?" Ray asked from the doorway.

"Yes."

"No."

"Um," Ray looked between Egon and Victoria in confusion. "I'll just wait in the car with the others." With that he ran out to catch up to the others.

Egon looked at Victoria. "What do you mean no?"

"I mean that you don't need to stay. Really. In fact I'd prefer it if you went home and got a good night's rest. That way I can poke your brain tomorrow if I need to."

"If your sure…."

"I am."

"Alright then." Egon rose and walked quietly to the door. He looked back at Victoria before leaving. "You'll call me if you need anything, right?"

"Yes. Now go. Before I call security," she laughed.

Egon left the room, closing the door behind him. When she was sure he was not going to come rushing back in, Victoria curled herself up into a ball. Why was she suddenly thinking such awful things about Egon? He was her cousin and she loved him. She always had.

'_It must have been the accident,'_ she thought. It was the only logical explanation. She was simply upset that he had doubted her and that her experiment had essentially, okay, quite literally, blown up in her face before she had a chance to prove to him that it worked.

But that was okay. She simply had to remind herself that tomorrow was another day and that she would prove to him, beyond a shadow of a doubt that it did work.


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N:** Thanks DuranDuran! It's always nice to hear what people think and I was beginning to think that no one was really interested in this story. I'm glad you are enjoying it and will definitely keep it going;-)_

_**Ormandria**_

* * *

The Ghostbusters arrived back at the firehouse shortly after dark. Janine had gone straight home from the hospital since it was getting rather late. The heat from the day had already begun to cool off and after everything that had happened, it was determined that Victoria was right. What they all needed now was a good night's sleep.

Ray, Egon and Winston went to the lockers and began to strip out of their ecto-suits while Peter didn't even bother taking his uniform off before he went upstairs to collapse on his waiting bed.

When they were done, they staggered, tiredly to the stairs.

"Well that's not good," Ray muttered to himself, pausing at the bottom of the stairs.

"What isn't good?" asked Winston.

"The Ecto-compressor seems to have melted the wood at the bottom of the banister a bit."

"What?" Winston bent down to get a closer look at the spot Ray was pointing to. There, where the wood of the banister met the concrete of the stairs, the wood looked as though it had melted, albeit very slightly, over the concrete.

"Okay," Winston stated slowly. "I am pretty sure that wood is _not_ supposed to do that."

"All the more reason why Victoria shouldn't use that thing again," Egon grumbled as he made his own way up to bed. "Ray, do me a favor and tomorrow morning cut some of that wood away so we can get a sample. I want to run some tests on it."

"No problem, Egon," Ray responded as he followed suit and headed upstairs.

Winston waited a touch longer as he continued to stare at the wood, almost convinced that it looked like it was still melting in slow motion. Shaking his head, he finally stood and walked upstairs, muttering to himself.

"Wood should_ definitely_ not do that…."

* * *

The hospital stood quiet in the night as the nurses made their rounds. They walked through darkened halls from room to room, checking on their patients and ensuring comfort where comfort was needed. Little light filtered into the rooms of patients that were there for more then a quick visit in the ER.

Down one such darkened corridor, in room 316, Victoria Alderat slept deeply, yet fitfully as vivid images raced sickeningly through her dreams. She saw Egon, Ray, Winston and Peter hanging down, their hands nailed to the wall, screaming in agony as they were slashed over and over. Bloody rips rose from their skin, the torn flesh dangling from exposed bones and organs. Slimer, ripped into a thousand ectoplasmic pieces, floated by with tears streaming down what was left of his face.

Victoria looked down at her hands to discover they were blood-drenched claws, solely responsible for the destruction before her. Part of her wanted to scream, terrified of finishing the dream out and wanting nothing more then to wake up from the perpetual nightmare she was in. Another part of her, from the alien essence that filled her brain and body to over-flowing, merely laughed, enjoying its thoughts of torture.

A nurse entered the room to check Victoria's vitals. The monitor showed only a slightly elevated heart-rate, but nothing out of the ordinary, so the nurse left to check on her next patient. Had she stayed a few minutes longer she might have noticed the sickly supernatural glow that enveloped Victoria's entire body for a good ten minutes before fading away into nothingness.

* * *

Victoria awoke to the bright sun glaring in through the window. She looked up at the time on the VCR that sat below the TV in the corner of the room. At six-fifty-two in the morning it was barely an acceptable time to be up. Still, try as she might she couldn't role over and go back to sleep. Something in her subconscious stopped her. She had had an extremely disturbing dream last night. Luckily she couldn't recall it, but she knew it had been bad.

God, her muscles were sore. More sore then they had been when she had first woke up the previous night in the hospital to begin with. Stretching to work out the kinks in her body, she reached for the remote control to the TV. It slid across the hospital tray, slipping easily into her awaiting hand. She pressed the button to turn it on and started flicking through the channels until she found one she liked.

It was an old black and white film, _The Innocents_, starring Deborah Kerr. A thriller/chiller by the looks of it. Normally Victoria didn't go in for scary movies, but this one intrigued her and the sudden urge to see where it was going was too much for her to ignore. Besides, it was better than going back to sleep.

Victoria also found herself slightly amused by the growing insanity of the governess in the film as the hours ticked by. By the time the movie had come to its climatic ending the nurse had come in to inform her that once the doctor gave her a final check over she would be ready to be discharged.

The nurse turned to leave, only to run into Egon.

"Sorry," they both said in unison. The nurse smiled and edged around the blonde ghostbuster to leave.

"Hello. How are you this morning?" Egon asked, turning his attention back to his cousin.

"Fine," Victoria answered with a smile, ignoring the sudden, raw guilt that welled inside of her at the sight of him. She had no idea why she felt it. Had the dream really been_ that_ bad?

_'No,'_ she decided. Besides, who wouldn't relish the chance to see an overbearing, holier-than-thou, know-it-all like Egon Spangler strung up, drawn and quartered? Still, it was better to just shrug the whole thing off for now.

"And you?"

"Better. At least better now that I know you're in the clear." He sat down in a chair near her bed. "I'm still not happy about you using that device of yours in your interview tomorrow."

"I told you Egon, it'll be fine." He could tell by the tone in her voice that she was getting annoyed again. She sighed loudly at his stern look. "Alright, if it makes you happy, I'll double check it to make sure that it didn't overload or break in all the confusion."

"Yes, it would," he nodded. " Victoria, it isn't that I don't trust you or your work. It's just that I've worked with enough ghost-oriented devices in my time to know that things are never as simple as we'd like them to be. Also, you're my cousin and I worry about you."

"Yes, mother," she smirked, resisting the urge to feign illness at his platitudes. "I hear and I obey."

Egon, misinterpreting the smirk, chuckled. "So when do we get you out of here?"

"As soon as the doctor gives me the final once over."

* * *

"Damn it!" cried Ray for the third time, holding his hand up to his mouth to suck on it.

"Janine," remarked Peter sarcastically from behind his magazine. "You might want to cover your ears if Ray is going to continue using such horrid language like that."

"Ha ha," replied Ray. "If you think it's so easy to cut through this mess, you try it."

"He would, but that would be actual work and might be too much of a strain on his ego," Janine smiled as she continued to file her nails.

"Ow. That hurts, Janine. That really hurts."

"I'll tell you what hurts," Ray said. "This wood. It's like cutting through concrete."

"That's because it is," Winston piped up from his spot on the stairs. "I think Victoria's little do-dad managed to melt the concrete as well."

"That does explain a lot," Ray commented, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Why don't you just use Egon's laser then?"

"That's a great idea, Janine! Winston, stay here while I go get it, will ya?" Ray stood up and ran upstairs to the lab.

"Wasn't planning on going anywhere."

"Listen to this," announced Peter, who had seated himself on a corner of Janine's desk. "It says here that the government has started plans for the first working space station on the moon."

"Gee. Does that mean we can start to make plans to ship you there?" Janine countered sardonically.

Peter ignored her and continued on, quoting from the magazine article. "_'If all goes well, then the space station, excepted to be able to house up to one hundred thousand people, will be ready for habitation in thirty-five years,.' _a NASA spokesperson commented."

"Hmmm," Winston muttered to himself. "I wonder if they have ghosts on the moon…."

"Here it is," called Ray, bounding down the steps two at a time with a small silver pen-like device in his hand.

"_'The first set of people to inhabit the new space station will of course be people trained to kept it up and running and in working order. After that has been taken care of, we will make a list of what we feel would be important career fields to fill on the base and then to gather the most prominent minds of those very career fields….'_ Gee, you think they'll chose me to represent the Ghostbusters?"

"I think they'll choose you to represent the lechers," remarked Janine. Peter frowned in response.

"There! Got it," shouted Ray in triumph.

"About time," Winston sighed.

"We're back," Egon called from the front of the firehouse. Peter put down the magazine and hopped off of Janine's desk.

"Clean bill of health?" he asked.

"Clean bill of health," Victoria smiled, walking up to him.

"Hey Egon, I got that sample for you," said Ray, holding up the piece of wood and concrete that he had broken off. He had left a good deal of untouched wood and concrete around the parts that had melted together so that he had gotten the entire sample.

"Good," replied Egon. "We'll get it up to the lab and I'll run some tests on it later."

Just then Slimer drifted into the room looking despondent.

"What's the matter Spud?" asked Ray. "Didn't you find him?"

"Uh-uh," sniffled the little ghost.

"Find who?" inquired Victoria.

"Jasper," Slimer sulked.

"Oh, him." Victoria waved her hand dismissively. "He probably just got spooked by everything yesterday and ran off to hide. He'll be back at some point, I'm sure. In the meantime, I wouldn't worry about 'em if I were you. Besides, I don't know about ya'll, but I am ready to go out to the local watering hole and relax a little."

Victoria picked up the magazine Peter had been ready ignoring everyone's curious stares. Egon clear his voice and glared at her. Victoria rolled her eyes and set the magazine back down.

"Easy Egon," she put on an air of mock compliance. "I was just headed up."

"Thank you," he stated shortly.

"I'll take that up to while I'm at it, shall I?" She grabbed the sample from Ray and tossing it in the air casually made her way to the lab.

"Well I'll say this for your cousin Egon, she definitely is in a rather _'chipper'_ mood," Ray mused.

"Yes. I'm beginning to wonder if she didn't hit her head a little harder then we thought."

* * *

Victoria locked the lab door behind her and tossed the sample on the table. Turning she looked at what had recently been her most treasured invention. With a snort of disgust she pushed it away and concentrated on her own thoughts. She couldn't quite figure out what was wrong with her.

She wasn't feeling at all like herself. Her head was still filled to the brim with thoughts and feelings that weren't quite her own, yet she seemed to be adapting to them. Or rather, they were adapting to her. It was hard to tell since they all seemed to be muddling together. She almost felt like her very essence was being devoured by this new side.

What really worried her deep down though, in the small part of her mind that was still totally her own, was that the rest of her wasn't worried about it at all. In fact, it down-right scared her and all that did was leave her a little more open for the other to move further in….


	6. Chapter 6

Victoria scanned the room for something to distract her from her own thoughts. What she really needed was to get out of the firehouse and have some fun, but as long as that dolt Egon was keeping an eye on her she wouldn't be able to.

Frustrated at the entire situation, she swung open one of the windows to get some fresh air in. She leaned as far out as her body would allow and took a deep satisfying breath. It smelled wonderful to her senses. Just the right amount of smog, coupled with the stench of the sweltering, sweat encrusted populace that crowded the streets below.

Victoria scanned the room for something to distract her from her own thoughts. What she really needed was to get out of the firehouse and have some fun, but as long as that dolt Egon was keeping an eye on her she wouldn't be able to.

Frustrated at the entire situation, she swung open one of the windows to get some fresh air in. She leaned as far out as her body would allow and took a deep satisfying breath. It smelled wonderful to her senses. Just the right amount of smog, coupled with the stench of the sweltering, sweat encrusted populace that crowded the streets below.

Her eyes glowed deeply red as she took in the atmosphere. She was sorely tempted to just throw herself totally out of the window, allowing herself to float down to the street below, but a loud knock on the lab door stopped her. Pushing herself away from the open window, her feet gently touched down on the ground again. Her eyes faded back to their natural greenish-brown color before she opened the door.

Ray stood on the other side, an insipid smile on his face as he held up the laser cutter he had used to gain the sample.

"Hey. Do you mind if I come in? I need to put this away."

"Not at all," Victoria shrugged, waving him in without much enthusiasm. "Place is part yours after all."

As Ray walked over to the shelving unit on the far wall to put the laser away he noticed that the Ecto-compressor had been moved.

"Done looking at it already?" he asked.

Victoria smiled. "Yeah, actually, I am."

"Didn't take you long." He moved to pick the device up, but Victoria moved in quickly, covering his hand with her own.

"I'd rather it not be messed with until after the interview. Call me paranoid, but since it survived the mess yesterday I don't want to push the envelope."

Ray laughed. "I can definitely understand that."

"So where is Big Brother?" she inquired.

"Who? Egon?"

"Who else?" It was Victoria's turn to laugh. Having Egon constantly trying to look over her shoulder had made her feel as though she had walked into a living version '1984.'

"Oh. He had to go out for awhile. Something about getting some spare parts for one of his own inventions." The fact that Ray had said the entire sentence without so much as glancing at Victoria, coupled with his sudden interest in fidgeting with the table edge only enhanced the feeling that the young woman had that Ray Stantz was not being entirely honest.

"You mean for _my_ invention."

"I didn't say…"

She held her hand up to stop him, a sardonic look on her face. "You didn't have to. I know my cousin. Damn it!" she flung a piece of chalk across the room, startling the red-headed ghostbuster. "He's treating me like I'm some sort of child!"

"I'm sure that's not it at all. He's just worried." Ray shrugged uncomfortably. Something in the air felt suddenly different for him as the hair on the back of his neck began to stand up.

"Anyway, you can always talk to him when he gets back. I'm sure he'll only be a few hours." He left the room with only a partial glance back at Victoria as she stood fuming.

She was irritated again. Why? Why did she even care about some stupid invention or that stupid interview anyway? Victoria shook her head. What had she been doing before Ray interrupted?

_'Oh, yes,'_ she remembered. She had wanted to get some fresh air.

"A few hours, huh? I wonder what there is to do around this dump on a Friday night?" she smiled. Feeling much better she bounced out of the room lightly.

"Oh, Peter!"

* * *

"I'm telling you Winston, there's something wrong with her," Ray whispered as he handed a wrench to his friend. After talking to Victoria he had headed straight down to the containment unit to relay his fears.

"It's just your imagination Ray," Winston replied.

"No it isn't. You weren't there. The air changed. It felt … wrong. Besides, when have you known her to get angry at Egon?"

Winston stopped and stared at Ray in disbelief. "Ray, we've only known her for four days."

"And in those four days, no matter how much Egon looked over her shoulder, or tried to stick his nose into her business, she never once got upset. In fact she laughed it off. Now she's snapping at every little thing he does."

"True. But a near-death experience and an important, life-changing interview both taking place inside a three-day period? That would be enough to drive anyone bonkers for a day or two. Just give her some time. I'm sure she'll be just fine."

"If you say so," Ray said, unconvinced.

* * *

Victoria found Peter lounging in front of the TV next to Slimer, who still looked sad. She sauntered over and sat on the arm of the couch, gazing down at him with amusement in her eyes.

"So this is how the great Peter Venkman spends his Fridays, hmm? Stuck in front of a TV watching Gilligan Island re-runs."

"I'll have you know that this happens to be a classic episode. It's the one where Gilligan is sleep-walking."

"The fact that you already know that when it is only," Victoria paused to look at her watch. "Two minutes into the show, shows you have way too much time on your hands." She reached over Peter to grab the remote and turn the television off.

"Hey!" Slimer cried indignantly.

"Oops, sorry Slimer." Victoria tossed him the remote, then turned toward Peter, grabbing him by the arms. "You sir, are coming with me. I've been here four days and I've yet to see the city."

"And you want me to show it to you?"

"That was the plan," she smiled seductively.

"I think I can handle that plan," Peter responded. "Um… Does Egon know we're going out?"

"He will when Janine tells him."

She led Peter downstairs and out the front door, yelling to Janine that they would be back much later.

"Where do you want to go first?" Peter asked as Victoria wrapped her arm around his.

"I don't know and I don't care." She took a deep breath. "I just needed some fresh air. That place is so stuffy."

"Okay, how about Central Park then?" he inquired.

"Sounds great!" Victoria sidled closer to Peter, allowing him to lead the way. She could smell the slew of misdeeds that he had committed in life as they seeped off him. He was perfect for her to be around. Of course it didn't hurt matters that of all the Ghostbusters, he was the only one that didn't make her sick to her stomach.

* * *

Janine glanced up from the book she was reading as Egon passed through the front doors of the firehouse several hours later.

"Sorry I'm late," he remarked to Janine. "I got caught up in a rather heated discussion with some under-grad from a local community college. He was buying a telescope for his girlfriend and decided to check out parts to build a spectrometer for his class project. Would you believe that I had to explain the difference between electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization to him?" Egon chuckled.

"As if the two aren't so different that you wouldn't notice. Seriously, it's like someone thinking that chocolate milk is the same as strawberry milk. Totally different. I mean, one uses crystallized 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxycinnamic…."

Janine merely sat there, her book still in hand while she stared at Egon in total boredom, waiting for him to say something interesting that would make sense to her.

"Uh-hem, yes," Egon cleared his throat in embarrassment and held up a small plastic bag that clanged together when moved. "I suppose I should just get these upstairs and see how Victoria is getting on with checking over the Ecto-Compressor."

"Victoria's gone," Janine replied. "She and Peter went out a while ago and won't be back until late."

Egon stopped in mid-step and laughed again, adjusting his glasses. "I'm sorry Janine, I think I misheard you. I thought you said that Victoria and Peter went out."

"I did and they did." Janine went back to reading her book.

Egon turned and stalked upstairs, his feathers obviously ruffled. Janine shook her head as she peeked up over her book to watch him. She knew he was concerned about Victoria, but the young woman had seemed fine to Janine when she had left with Peter and even if Peter was a lecher, he surely wouldn't be so crass as to go after Egon's cousin, would he?

Janine didn't even wait for her brain to catch up. Of course he would. _'Oh well,'_ she thought with a shrug. _'She's a big girl. I'm sure she can handle herself.'

* * *

_

"Did you know that Victoria was out with Peter?" Egon asked Ray and Winston as he got to the top of the stairs. The pair popped their heads up at the irritation in his voice.

"Janine mentioned something about it after they left. Why?" Winston replied.

"I just …. It bothers me," Egon said. "I can't believe Peter would do that."

"I'm sure they'll be fine. Peter won't do anything out of line."

"Come on Ray, this _is_ Peter we're talking about," Winston remarked. Egon just looked at Ray.

"Oh, right," Ray conceded. "Sorry Egon."

"That's okay Ray," Egon shook his head, glancing down at the floor. "Besides, it isn't just Peter that I'm worried about. It's Victoria. Ever since that accident yesterday, she hasn't been herself."

"You know, Ray said that too."

Egon looked back up. "Ray?"

Ray glanced between his two friends and then swallowed hard. He had been hoping to avoid this, but it had been weighing on his mind. "I went into the lab to return your laser and I got to talking to Victoria. She asked me where you were and I told her and she blew a gasket. I know I haven't known her that long, but it just doesn't seem like her."

Egon nodded. "No, it's not."

"So what are you gonna do?" asked Winston.

"What else? I'm going to wait up for the prodigal children to return and have a few choice words with them."

* * *

"This place rocks!" Victoria yelled over the loud, blaring music as Peter escorted her into the nightclub. They had spent most of the day going to a number of well-known New York spots, such as Central Park, Staten Island and various places in Manhattan. That had lasted until it got to be around eight at night. After that they had started to cruise the local area nightclubs. The latest on the list was a small hole-in-the-wall known as Harry's on the Spot. Peter was so well-known here that he barely had to give a nod to get in past the long line of waiting people.

"I thought you might enjoy it." Peter escorted her to the bar, away from the speakers so that they could talk without the music interfering so much.

"What can I get you?" A female bartender asked the duo.

"Vodka on the rocks," Peter answered.

"Highball," Victoria replied.

"One Vodka on the rocks and one Highball coming up."

Peter waited until the drinks were served before focusing his attention back on Victoria, who was swinging in her body in time to the music.

"So, do you want to tell me what's on your mind now?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked innocently.

"You had absolutely no interest in going out with me before today. Why the change in heart all of the sudden."

Victoria turned and gave Peter a seductive smile as she pressed her body into his. "Maybe I just finally realized that there's more to you then meets the eye." She twisted ever so slightly that it sent waves of pleasure up Peter's spine. Peter pushed her back and clucked his tongue.

"Nice try, but I'm not buying it."

Victoria's face fell.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't." She downed her Highball in one gulp and caught the bartender's eye motioning for another.

"Did something happen between you and Egon?"

"What? Me and the witless wonder? No, why?"

"Hey, Egon may not be well-versed in social norms, but he is definitely not dumb."

"No. He's inane, arrogant and pompous."

The bartender gave her another Highball, which she downed as quickly as the first, then handed the glass back for yet another.

Peter felt his body grow hot as his temper began to rise. "Don't insult Egon," he warned.

"Why not? He's my cousin. I'll insult him if I want." She started to lift the third glass to her lips, but Peter stopped her and forced her hand back down.

"I think you've had enough," he said shortly.

"You're right," she smiled, once more pressing up to him. "Maybe we should go someplace quiet and find something … else to do?" Her fingers caught the buttons on his shirt and began playing with them. Peter grabbed her hand and moved it away.

"I think you've had a bit too much to drink. We should get back to the firehouse now." All the enjoyment he had had with Victoria earlier in the day had slipped away. Granted she was extremely attractive in appearance, but her sudden switch in personality left a lot to be desired by the ghostbuster.

"You're just like the others aren't you?" she sneered. "All goody-two-shoes trying to do what's right. You make me sick." Victoria pulled her hand away as she continued to glare at Peter. "Sad really. I was starting to like you."

For the briefest of moments Victoria thought Peter looked hurt at that remark and it jolted her. Her mind began racing again. Why had she said all that? Why did she hate Egon and the others so much? Visions of the dream she had had the night before raced back through her mind, along with the bitter emotions they invoked. She grabbed the bar quickly to keep herself from falling over.

"Victoria?" Peter asked, his voice filled with concern. "Are you okay?"

Her body was starting to change again. She could feel it start to merge again with the other. Her fingers passed through the bar as she straightened back up. Her head was killing her. She needed to get some rest. Yes, sleep made the process so much easier. It seemed such a natural process to her that she couldn't understand why part of her was fighting it.

"I'm fine," she glanced back at Peter. "But I think you're right. I think I want to go back to the firehouse now and get some rest."

Peter nodded and followed her to the door.

* * *

"Where have you two been?" Egon demanded as Peter and Victoria made their way back into the firehouse.

"Out relaxing and having fun, cousin dear," Victoria scoffed. "A concept that I'm sure you know nothing about."

"Victoria," Egon started.

"_Victoria_," his cousin said mockingly. "_Victoria_. For crying out loud, what is this, the dark ages? Please. I'm not a queen. I prefer Vicki now. Do you have a problem with that?"

"I have a problem with your attitude. What the hell has gotten into you?"

"None of your business, Egon," Victoria batted him away with a flick of the wrist. Turning away she clutched her throbbing head. She needed to lie down and she needed to do it soon. "I'm tired and I need sleep…" She dragged herself, head down, past Egon and back into the sectioned off part of the firehouse that was currently serving as her room.

"All right Peter, what happened?" Egon asked, not taking his eyes off the curtains Victoria had just walked behind.

"I wish I could tell you Egon. She said she wanted to get some fresh air and see the sights, so we went. I thought maybe something was bothering her, but when I asked about it, she just went all… well," he pointed in her general direction as if to say that her behavior spoke for itself.

"Have you ever thought that maybe all that studying has driven her insane?" Peter asked.

"It's not the studying I'm worried about," Egon replied. _'It's the insanity,'_ he thought quietly to himself.

* * *

Egon went into the lab to think. He always went into his lab when he needed to think. Something about the cold, pristine equipment and calculations of the mind helped to clear the cobwebs of muddled thinking away. In a lab, everything was solid and direct. The world was a world of yes's and no's, ones and twos, black and white. There were no ifs ands, or buts. There was only logic.

Even logic though didn't make sense this time. Victoria had been all right. They had run almost every conceivable test at the hospital, including an MRI and CAT scan. So what was wrong with her? Egon sat down at the table, absent-mindedly picking up a large chunk of rock and tossing it between his two hands. It wasn't until the third toss that he realized what it was. It was the sample of wood that Ray had taken from the downstairs banister. He gazed at the odd appearance of it. It was as solid as a rock, yet looked almost like normal wood. If it weren't for the grainy, almost concrete feel to it, he would almost think it had been petrified in some way.

"That's right," he muttered to himself. "I was going to run tests on this. Might as well do it now."

He gathered his equipment around him. Hopefully having something to work on would help him think more clear on other matters.

* * *

Victoria lay in a deep sleep as the other whispered to her dreams. Dreams of blood and vengeance, dreams filled with loathing. It whispered its name, Groden, and it's misery and intents. They had started off as two, but were fast becoming one. They were melding into each other, their memories, their feelings, their bodies. Soon they would be one. She would become him and he would become her. Soon there would be no turning back….

As the glow faded into nothingness, Victoria rolled over in her sleep, a thin, malicious smiled swept across her face.


	7. Chapter 7

Victoria awoke in the dark morning hours feeling much better. Her body wasn't nearly as sore as it had been yesterday morning and her head was no longer throbbing as it had last night. She knew that the transformation was not yet complete and that it would take another night or two, but it was nice to know that it became less painful as it went on.

She stretched out her tired limbs and stood up. What she needed now was a shower to wash off the sweat from the night before. Grabbing a fresh set of clothes, she walked straight through the curtains that served as her door and drifted up the stairs. It wasn't until she was outside of the room where the Ghostbusters slept that she actually let her feet touch the floor.

She paused outside of their door for a brief moment, contemplating going in and choking all of them in their sleep right then and there.

'No,' she thought to herself. 'We'll have plenty of time for that later, when we are one. Then we can make Egon Spangler suffer to our hearts content.'

She opened the door and tip-toed between down the aisle between the beds to the bathroom on the other side. Ray, Peter and Winston all sleep soundly in their beds while Slimer slept hovering over the air between Ray and Peter's bed, a small stuffed bear held snuggly in his arms and a nightcap on his head.

Victoria had to stop herself from laughing aloud at the ridiculous sight. It didn't take much effort once she noticed that Egon was not in his bed. She shrugged, determined that it didn't matter where he was. The imbecile had no clue as to what was going on and it would probably take a meteor the size of Lake Huron landing on his head to give him a clue.

She went into the bathroom, locking the door behind her and turned the water on to near scalding before stripping her clothes off and stepping in. It felt good. She glanced momentarily at the bandage that was still wrapped around her arm from where the brick hit it before ripping it off and inspecting her arm. Not a bruise, not a scratch, not even a blemish remained.

With that out of the way, she let her body relax under the pressure and steam of the water for a good twenty minutes before cleaning herself up. When she was done she dried off and quickly got dressed. Looking at the sink she noticed her hairbrush and with barely a wave of her hand it pulled itself up and began brushing her hair.

It was in mid-brush when Slimer, sleepy and not totally cognizant floated in and began brushing his teeth. He had already put the toothpaste on his toothbrush and began scrubbing his teeth thoroughly when he finally noticed the floating hairbrush next to Victoria. The brush floated down and back to his place on the counter.

"Uh oh," Slimer whimpered as he realized what was going on.

Victoria's eyes glowed a deep, burning red so bright that they drenched the room in the color. Slimer, his body shaking started to back away, hoping that he could slip out of the room when he felt himself stopped, though not of his own free-will.

"Now, now, now. Where do you think you're going, your great green gelatinous gob of goo?" Victoria's voice no longer sounded like the sweet second soprano it had been when she had first appeared at the firehouse. Rather, it had been replaced by a deep baritone the dripped malice.

Slimer felt himself thrown back against the wall. He opened his mouth to scream when Victoria smile and waved her finger in front of him.

"Uh, uh, uh… I wouldn't do that if I were you. Or you and your gutblustering friends might find yourselves going to pieces." As if to emphasize the point she flicked her finger and a slice of ectoplasm flew from Slimer's stomach. Somehow the little ghost manage to control the urge to cry out in pain and instead took to whimpering uncontrollably.

She walked up to him and gently stroked his face. Something in the touch seemed oddly familiar to him and Slimer cringed automatically at the contact.

"You won't tell them what you saw, correct?" she asked.

"No…," he shook his head.

"Good. Because if you do, they will die and _it will be all your fault_." She didn't bother telling him that they were all going to die anyway. It seemed a bit pointless to her.

"Now," she continued once more in her 'normal' voice. "I'm going to go out for a while. I have … things … I need to do. I am trusting you to keep our little secret a secret." She grinned evilly as she walked out, leaving the frightened ghost behind.

Slimer felt the invisible force that had gripped him loosen as she left, though the gash in his stomach remained, and probably would for a few hours at least, if not longer. Slimer floated down through the floors until he had himself hidden completely in the dark shadows of the metal stairs leading down to the containment unit. Sliding back against the wall his body continued to shake.

"This is bad," he mumbled to himself over and over again. "This is _very_ bad…."

* * *

Victoria swept through the sleeping quarters, no longer caring if she woke any of the ghostbusters up. Her threat to Slimer would hold his tongue for only so long before someone started questioning why he was so fearful all of a sudden. At that point they would be bound to find out what had happened to her. At least now she could stop pretending to like them.

She took a small note that Winston now appeared to be up as well, since his bed was also empty. Chances were good that either he woke Slimer up or Slimer woke him up. She glanced quickly at the clock on the wall. Five-sixteen in the morning.

It was almost a certainty that Winston had not heard what had transpired between her and Slimer in the bathroom. If he had, he would have awoken the others right away. The four men were highly predictable in that regard. So much so that it was utterly ridiculous. It truly was a wonder that no one had succeeded in bringing them down thus far.

Victoria walked into the main area of the upstairs to see Winston rummaging through cabinets for something.

"Good Morning," he said groggily.

"If you say so," she replied dryly as she watched him wearily. "Any particular reason you're up so early?"

"The shower woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep," he yawned. "So I thought I might as well just get up and have some breakfast while I was at it."

"I see. Well, don't let me keep you then."

Winston paused, noting the detachment in the young girl's voice and demeanor.

"What are you doing up so early?" he asked trying to sound casual. He had to admit that Ray was right. Something about Victoria was setting off almost every alarm in his head.

"I have things to do," she shrugged with indifference and headed toward the stairs to leave.

"But you have that interview later today, right? Don't you think you should stick around here until it's time to go? Egon will be worried about you if you leave now."

She stopped at the top of the stairs. Her voice carried coldly across the room, infused with venom. "And what the hell makes you so sure that I care one iota about what you think or Egon feels? I believe Mr. Zedmore, you may have me confused with someone who actually gives a rat's ass about you lot."

The reply formed in Winston's head, but before he could speak the cabinet door slammed shut on his hand, crushing his fingers.

"Argh!" he screamed in pain. Grabbing the door with his other hand, he had to work to pry it open so he could free his fingers.

"Have a nice day." Victoria waved, smiling to herself as she descended the stairs and left. Winston gently clasped his injured hand, still searing with pain and took no notice of her exit. When the front door to the firehouse closed behind her each and every analog clock and watch in the firehouse stopped as their faces cracked simultaneously. The time read five-twenty-seven and fifteen seconds exactly.

* * *

Pain shot through Egon's temple as he jolted awake, hitting his head on the microscope that sat before him.

"Ow! What the?" He glanced around the lab, confused until he remembered that he had been testing the wood sample that Ray had cut for him.

"I must have fallen asleep," he murmured. He rubbed his neck, trying to work the kinks out when he heard someone shouting epitaphs in the other room. He peeked out of the room just in time to see Winston bent over, his hands against his stomach, and biting his upper lip.

"Winston, what's wrong?" he rushed over to his friend. All Winston could do was to hold out his hand and show Egon the already bruising fingers. "Oh my God! What happened?"

"The cabinet door slammed shut on them." He winced as Egon led him over to the table to get a better look at the hand.

"What's going on?" Ray asked as he and Peter stumbled out of the bedroom. "We heard someone scream!"

"That would have been me," Winston replied through gritted teeth.

"No bones are broken, but it is definitely going to hurt for a while. Peter, can you grab me the gaze roll and tape from the bathroom?"

"Yeah."

Egon waited for Peter to return and then started bandaging Winston's hand. "You said that the cabinet shut on your hand?"

"Slammed," corrected Winston.

"I've had door's slam on my hands before Winston, and unless they are car doors, or something heavy like that, they don't do this much damage. Care to explain?"

"I can't," he shrugged. "I honestly don't know what happened. I was talking to Victoria and suddenly it slammed shut."

"Wait," Peter poked his head between the two. "You said you were talking to Victoria?"

"Yeah and you were right," Winston continued. "There is definitely something wrong with her."

"Where is she now?" Egon inquired.

"Don't know. She said she had things to do. I told her that she should probably stick around until it was time for you to take her to her interview and she just snapped. Said she didn't care what I thought, or you felt."

"What did you say to her?" Ray asked.

"Nothing. I didn't get a chance to say anything. That was when the cabinet door slammed on my hand." Winston held up his injured appendage to examine Egon's work. "She must have left when it happened."

Peter eyed Egon, who sat frozen in his seat. He could almost hear the blood pounding in Egon's veins. Without a word, Egon rose up and walked into the lab.

"Egon?" Ray started to follow, but was held back by Peter.

"Don't," Peter whispered. "Give him a minute." Peter closed his eyes in anticipation of what he knew was coming. Sure enough after a few moments a loud crash emanated from the lab along with a frustrated cry from Egon.

Peter nodded at the others and they rushed to the lab. Egon stood with his hands flat on the table before him, gathering his breath. A large piece of brownish stone lay on the floor and one of the filing cabinets had a large dent in it. It was rather simple to put two and two together as Ray picked up the large rock.

"Feel better?" Peter smirked as though this were an everyday occurrence.

"Much," Egon nodded, looking more relaxed and like himself. Winston looked at Peter in confusion.

"Egon did the same thing back in college when he had problems getting his experiments to work," Peter explained.

"Unfortunately," Egon sighed. "It still doesn't solve the problem at hand."

"Which is your cousin's sudden personality switch from kind and caring science nut to the wicked witch of the west." Peter grabbed some papers off the table and start ruffling through them.

"Exactly."

"Hey, Egon. What is this thing anyway?" Ray asked as he studied the brown rock in his hands.

"It's the sample you gave me."

"No it's not."

"What do you mean it's not?" Egon looked up at Ray annoyed. "Of course it is. I should know, I've been running tests on it all night."

"No, he's right. That's not the sample he cut from the banister." Winston leaned over to get a good look at the rock. "The sample he had was actual wood and concrete. Granted they had been melted, but they were still wood and concrete."

Egon sat up straighter. "Let me see that," he commanded. Ray handed the rock over and Egon stared at it intently. "This has changed since last night. There use to be a bit of concrete on the bottom."

"What? It's morphing?" Peter asked.

"That's what it appears to be doing." He tossed the sample at Peter, who caught it deftly.

"Ow." Peter shook his hand to get rid of the sting left from the throw.

"Sorry," Egon replied as he began looking at some recent print-outs from the computer. "Damn," he muttered. "My eyes are too tired and the light in here is no good. I need to more light to read these properly."

"What about the kitchen?" Winston suggested.

"It'll have to do." Egon took the papers and went to the kitchen table to sit down and read, while the other three turned on all available lights to make it easier. After several minutes of reading in silence and rapid eye rubbing, Egon finally put the papers down, his faced in awe.

"The molecules have bonded together and reformed," he said quietly. "It's no longer wood or concrete. It's a totally new substance."

"Congratulations Egon!" Peter teased. "You've discovered a new type of rock."

"Peter!" Ray exclaimed while Peter just shrugged nonchalantly.

"That's not the worse part. According to the readings from the spectrometer, it was still changing as the night wore on, and even at the end it didn't look done yet."

"So why is that the worst part?" Winston asked.

Egon looked at his friends, his face going pale. "When was the last time anyone saw Jasper?" he asked.

"The day before yesterday," Ray answered. "Victoria was holding him right before the ecto-compressor went off …."

"Damn," Winston breathed.

"We need to find Victoria," Egon declared. "And we need to find her soon."

* * *

Victoria walked among the dilapidated buildings. The streets here were not nearly as crowded as the main streets, and of the few people that she still encountered, most were homeless. They would pan-handle, putting their hands out and begging for money. Victoria ignored their cries for assistance and on more then one occasion, she even sent a few flying into the wall, causing others who had seen it to scurry into hiding.

Finally Victoria reached her destination, an old brick building, once a grand hotel from the looks of it. She let her fingers drift lightly over the brick. It would be the perfect place for the Ghostbusters undoing.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N:** Okay I know I said that I was not that concerned about getting reviews and all, but I would like to ask a favor. This story has officiallyhit the half-way mark during some point in the last two to three chapters. The ending has pretty much been mapped out now and even partially written and as such a quasi-sequel has begun to brew in my head. But since only one person has seen fit to actually review this story I have no idea how many people would be interested in reading a sequel. If people aren't interested in reading it, than there is no point in my writing it._

_I know it takes time, but please folks, take a moment and review. Let me know what you like or dislike about the story. All I ask is that you use creative criticism and not out and out flames. I know that I tend to make grammatical errors in my writings (Grammer was never my strong point in English class) and for that I apologize, but it would still be nice to hear from you. Thanks!_

_And thanks again to DuranDuran for the reviews!_

_**Ormandria

* * *

**_

"So she's possessed," Ray said, trying to sound as if it were no big deal. "That's easy enough. We've dealt with possession before."

"No, Ray. It's not possession," Egon countered. "It's different. Their bodies are melding into one."

"Okay, now you've got me confused. What's the difference?" Peter held up his hand quickly before Egon could answer. "And let me remind you that we folks here are from Earth, so please try to use plain and simple English."

Sighing Egon looked around for a way to explain it when his eyes alit on a bottle of Italian Salad Dressing that had been left out, giving him an idea.

"Okay, hold on." The blonde ghostbuster got up and grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and filled them both halfway with water before placing them on the table. He then grabbed a bottle of vegetable oil and the open carton of milk that Winston had pulled out earlier for his cereal. The other watched him do this with great interest. Mainly because when Egon started using food to explain things, it meant that whatever was going on was going to get a whole lot more interesting very quickly. And that was almost always a very bad thing.

"Okay, imagine that the glasses of water are people. Normal, human people. The vegetable oil and the milk on the other hand are ghosts. When a person becomes possessed by a ghost the ghost enters their body and takes over." To demonstrate this, Egon poured some of the vegetable oil into one of the glasses of water and swished it around until it was as mixed as it was possible to get.

"Now, when a ghost takes old of a person, it can be very hard to get that ghost out. But not impossible. After all, the two are separate entities, just like the oil and water," he motioned to the glass where the water and oil had already begun to separate. "They don't truly belong together and under the right circumstances, when the ghosts grip starts to loosen, it becomes fairly easy to pull them apart."

He picked up the second glass of water and the milk. "Now say this is Victoria and this is Jasper. When they got hit with the beam, they got 'mixed' together." He poured some milk into the water and swished it around just as before, then placed the glass on the counter.

"Now, anyone care to try to separate that?" he asked.

A chill went down Winston's spine. "I think I liked it better when you used the Twinkie analogies."

"This is definitely going to be difficult," Ray remarked as Peter picked up the glass of milky water to look at it.

"We have to find some way of separating Jasper from Victoria," Egon commented, putting the milk and oil away. "If the mergence is allowed to complete itself, we may not be able to separate them at all."

"I just don't get it though," Ray commented sadly. "Jasper seemed like such a nice ghost, and Victoria is nice as well. Why would they suddenly become so mean simply because they …"

"Had all their molecules rearranged in a virtual blender?" Peter finished. "I think I'd be a bit cranky after something like that too."

"Okay, when you put it that way," The red-haired ghostbuster nodded. "But you said yourself that it's gone beyond just being cranky. She …they … actually _hate_ Egon. And I don't think she's too fond of the rest of us either." He glanced at Winston's bandaged hand for emphasis.

"You know," said Winston in a thoughtful voice. "You keep talking about Jasper and Victoria, but are you sure it's Jasper?"

"What do you mean?" Egon asked.

Peter, who had started to catch on to his friend's train of thought, gently set the glass back down.

"It's just that, well, there _was_ another ghost in the room," Winston answered.

"Yeah," conceded Ray. "But we caught that ghost in the trap."

"No," Winston corrected. "We caught _a_ ghost in the trap."

"And we just assumed it was _that_ ghost…," finished Peter.

Egon adjusted his glasses as he thought it over. "That would explain the animosity. We aren't exactly popular among the ghost crowds around here and we had just captured that one."

"So what do we do?" Ray asked.

"We find out who we put in the containment unit. If it was Jasper, then we can pull him out and use him to help us find Victoria," Egon answered.

"Okay," replied Peter. "So we'll just send the little spud in there to check on him. They are friends after all."

"Sounds good," Ray said. The four ghostbusters stayed were they were for a few moments, each waiting for the next to go get Slimer. Finally realizing that this was not going to happen, Ray looked at Winston, since he had been the first one up. "Um, where is Slimer anyway?"

"Last I saw him, he'd gone into the bathroom to brush his teeth. It was right after Victoria finished in the shower…." Winston's voice drifted off.

"Oh great," Peter sighed, shaking his head.

"Poor guy," Ray mumbled sadly.

"All right," Egon looked at his friends in exasperated resolve. "Let's split up. Peter, you check the main floor. Winston, you check up here and Ray and I will check the lower levels."

"Right," the other three said in unison.

* * *

Victoria faced the wall that had once led to the great ballroom. She closed her eyes, inhaling the fragrance from long ago. Pictures ebbed into her mind of bright rooms, decked in red and gold opulence. The long runners that laid on the floor of each and every corridor, the renaissance paintings that lined the walls, the brass candle holders that lit every corner of what had once amounted to a palace. 

All were gone now. The hotel that had been built before the turn of the century, in the early 1880's, and had once housed such grand names as Theodore Roosevelt and Nellie Bly, was no more than a mere memory on the wind of time. Such a shame too. Oh, it was a grand list of names that had traipsed through these halls. Some good, some evil, all larger than life.

It lasted until the forties, when it had been turned into an elaborate stage theatre before it was down-graded even further into a flimsy movie theater nearly two decades later. For the last seven years it had stood empty and derelict. The thought of it sickened Victoria to the depths. Groden had come from the time before. It was that time he chose to remember and that time that was now printed on her mind's eye. It would be that time again. At least that was what the plan had been, until the ghostbusters interfered. Now they would pay for that interference with their lives.

Memories welled up inside of her. Memories that had belonged to Groden when he was simply himself. She sifted through them finding the weak spots in his earlier plan to exact revenge against the Ghostbusters. It had been that plan, an incompetent one at best, that had led to his quick capture. For a short while there, when the Ghostbusters had first captured him, he had thought that he was doomed. Then this naïve young fool of a girl had inadvertently given him another chance.

This time would be different now, because of her. This time he had Victoria's brains, and her lightning fast mental reflexes to assist him. She in turn had been given his cold heart and unearthly hatred. Together they made a fine team.

Turning she walked to the stairs that led up to the balconies. Blood dripped from large letters scratched into the wall she had been facing. It was a list of names. From top to bottom it read: Winston Zedmore, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, Janine Melnitz, Slimer, Egon Spangler.

It may have seemed like the names were in order for a reason to anyone that might come across it, but in truth, the order had been non-specific. Victoria really didn't care what order they died in. The only important thing was that Egon Spangler was last, so he could watch in horror as she killed all those that were dear to him. Only after that would she kill him. Then she would destroy the containment unit, free all those that had been trapped inside, and recreate the world that Groden had always wanted.

She silently drifted past the doors to the balcony and to another set of stairs that led even further up. At the top of those stairs would be three camera rooms and the access door to the roof. Most of the upper building had been demolished when the building had switched hands for the very last time in the late sixties. Where there had once been seven stories, there were now only three. The last owners, those that had turned it into the derelict theater it was now, had decided that it was too much trouble to keep up the rooms above the theater that had been converted to apartments and used to house the stage hands and actors that were regular features at La Mort Noire Theatre.

Or perhaps it was that the stories of grizzly nighttime visits by those long-dead had finally spooked people enough that no one was willing to live in the old building anymore. As with almost any old hotel or theatre, the place had been brimming with ghosts once upon the time. The only major difference was that the ghosts here had developed a tendency to hurt people just because they enjoyed it. Young, old, man woman, adult, child, no one was safe in the upper floors. Had the Ghostbusters existed before those floors had been decimated than surely they would have had one hell of a time clearing it out. But they had not existed back then, almost every other ghost had either moved on to new haunts or just drifted away into nothingness.

Victoria paused at the door leading to the roof, her hand laying flat against the cold, concrete surface of the wall. She let even more memories flood over her. She could hear, feel and smell all that had transpired in these walls. She pushed open the door. It irked her to no end that she still needed to use something as mundane as a door, but until the mergence was complete, she would not have full use of Groden's ghostly abilities.

As she stepped out onto the roof beyond, the door slammed shut behind her, leaving only darkness and the faint trace of a grand piano playing in the now empty corridor.

* * *

"Any luck yet?" Peter yelled down to Winston. 

"Not yet," Winston returned.

"We found him!" Egon called from the basement stairwell. Peter jumped several steps at a time to catch up to Winston as he plowed downstairs to the basement.

"Where is he?" Peter asked.

"Hiding under the stairs. He won't come out. Ray is trying to talk to him now."

As they made their way down even further, they could hear Ray talking to the small green ghost, He was using the same tone as someone might with a small frightened child.

"Hey, it's okay Slimer. No one's going to hurt you."

"Uh-uh!" the ghost replied. "She's mean!"

"Who's mean?" Ray asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Egon's cousin," Slimer whimpered.

"What did she say to you?"

"Can't tell. She'll hurt everyone if I tell."

"Hear Ray, let me try," Peter said as the three other ghosterbusters finally reached the area where Slimer was hiding.

"All right." Ray pushed his way out from the cramped place under the stairs as Peter slide in. Slimer was backed into the corner, covered almost completely by shadows. His large blue eyes stood out as they glowed. Peter eyes Slimer with sympathy. For all his complaints, Peter really did care about the little spud and it always bothered him to see the ghost scared or upset, unless it was because Peter had just yelled at him. Heck, even then there were times he would feel a bit guilty afterward. It all depended on how badly the ghost had managed to upset Peter in the first place, and how justified that anger was.

"Hey Spud. You can come out now. The mean ole ghosty-girl is gone."

"She is?" Slimer sounded unsure, but had started to peek out of the shadows all the same.

"Yup. And you don't have to worry. We know all about what's going on."

"You do?"

"Yup. And she hasn't hurt anyone so far, has she?"

"No…."

"So there you go."

"Alright," Slimer nodded and slowly came out of his hiding spot behind Peter. He looked around, half expecting Victoria to come screaming through the walls, but when she failed to do so, he let out a long sigh of relief.

"Telling him she's gone," Ray shook his head. "Why didn't I think of that."

"Because Ray," Peter answer with a grin. "You just don't have the clear thinking, finesse like me."

"Or possibly because it was so simple that only Peter would think of it. After all, his thought process is much like that of a five-year-old child," Egon interjected. "Now hurry. If we're going to save Victoria before the merger is complete, we need to find out just what ghost we put in the containment unit."

Egon bent down in front of Slimer and put his hand on the ghosts head in a gesture of comfort. "Do you think you're up for a trip into the containment unit?"

"I don't know," Slimer looked worried.

"Think of it this way spud," Ray commented. "If your in the containment unit, then Victoria can't get to you, can she?"

Slimer opened his mouth and shut it again. The cold touch of Victoria's fingers still lingered on his face. He knew instinctively that whatever ghost was a part of Victoria now, it was not Jasper. Just like a dog could tell the difference between it's owner and an imposter (no matter how closely they resembled each other to humans), the green ghost had no trouble telling the difference between friend and foe. The ghost that was now a part of Egon's cousin was definitely a foe. And a familiar foe at that, though Slimer couldn't quite put his finger on _how_ it was familiar.

"What is it Slimer?" Ray asked. It was apparent that the little ghost wanted to say something important, but he seemed to still be afraid.

"Nothing," the ghost sighed.

"So will you do it? Please?" Peter pleaded. "Pretty please with a banana split covered in whipped cream, chocolate syrup, nuts and a cheery on top?"

"Oh, alright," Slimer replied, a bit dejected. The ghostbusters all smiled fondly at him.

* * *

It took about fifteen minutes for Egon and Ray to get Slimer geared up with the usual camera and microphones that would transmit to their laptop computers. That way they would be able to follow Slimer's progress as well as giving them the opportunity to see and hear everything that he saw or heard. 

"Just a quick in and out," Egon stated as he tightened the camera helmet onto Slimer's head. "Look for any sign of Jasper or the class-nine that we captured the other day."

"And if I find them?" Slimer asked.

"If it's Jasper, bring him back to the front and we'll get the two of you out of there. If it's the class-nine, come straight back and we'll get you out of there. Understand?"

"Aye Aye, Captain!" Slimer saluted.

"Okay, Slimer. The trap's ready," Ray nodded toward the waiting trap that lay on the floor. With a deep breath he hovered directly over it, waiting for the now all too familiar feeling of being sucked into a giant void, once more.

"Good luck Spud!" Peter yelled as he brought his foot down on the trap button. With a bright light and a loud whoosh Slimer disappeared into nothingness. The trap below where he had been was now blinking red on and off, confirming the presence of a ghost within its confines.

Ray picked up the hot trap and slid it into place in the containment unit. Once he heard the loud click, notifying all that it was secure, he pulled down the large lever at the side that would send Slimer spiraling from the trap and into the heart of the containment unit.

After a moment the light turned green, showing that the trap was now empty. Ray pushed the lever back up and pulled the trap out.

"No point leaving it in there. We don't want any other ghosts getting the idea to come tag along," he explained.

Winston leaned in over Egon's shoulder as the blonde typed furiously away at the computer. "Anything coming up yet?" he asked.

"We're online," Egon announced, adjusting his glasses to get a better look at the screen. "Slimer, can you hear me?" Egon wore an almost identical head mic to the one Slimer was wearing.

"Loud and clear!" the ghost returned.

"Good. Now see if you can find one of those ghosts."

"Yessir!"

Peter laughed audibly. "I gotta hand it to the Spud. He really takes his job seriously." He took a seat next to Ray to await the outcome of their buddy's expedition.

* * *

An hour after she had first walked in, Victoria walked out of the old theater with a mad grin on her face as she inhaled the noxious fumes of the city. Her only thoughts were on the destruction that was to come. Thinking of that made her positively giddy to be, somewhat, alive. It was indeed, going to be a blood-curdlingly, bone-crushingly, marvelous, wondrous day. 


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N:** Thanks __RayElaineFan __and DuranDuran! I appreciate the reviews. I will go ahead and plan on writing the sequel then. _

_And yes, I was rather fond of the twinkie line myself ;-) LOL_

**_Ormandria__

* * *

_**

"Eureka!" Slimer exclaimed through the headphones. The picture on the computer screen showed that the green ghost had begun to speed toward a small blue blur in the distance. Sure enough, when he was within ten feet, it became clear that he had found Jasper.

"Well," Winston said as he watched the monitor closely. "At least now we know."

"Slimer get Jasper and get back to the front of the containment unit now. We'll have the trap ready to pull you two out," Egon ordered.

"Yes Sir!" the ghost answered back.

The ghostbusters watched as Slimer approached Jasper, who was huddled, his head buried in his arms in fright, away from the other ghosts.

"Jasper!" Slimer yelled at his friend. Jasper looked up and upon seeing Slimer streaked straight at him, nearly knocking him over in the process and causing the camera and mic to go out for a few seconds.

Satisfied that the pair would now make it out of the containment unit, Slimer had been in there for a good fifteen to twenty minutes, Egon pulled the microphone headset off his own head and rubbed his eyes.

"You okay Egon?" Peter asked, noting the exhausted look in his friend's eyes.

"Fine, Peter. Just tired." Egon watched the monitor as Slimer and Jasper made their way back to the forefront of the containment unit.

"Don't worry Egon," Ray commented with an easy smile. "I'm sure that we'll get to Victoria before anything really bad happens. We are the good guys after all. We always win."

Egon glanced around at his friends as a sudden chill went down his spine.

"I hope you're right Ray."

The containment unit beeped loudly, informing the group that the two ghosts were in position. Winston grabbed the empty trap and gently slid it into place, pulling the lever up to allow the two ghost to enter it. When he was sure they were in, he switched the lever back down and pulled out the trap.

Everyone back up as Winston then placed the trap in the middle of the floor and pressed the switch with his foot. A moment later, after the trap was closed again, two ghosts, one green and the other blue, were flying around the room. Slimer headed straight for Peter, eliciting a cry of "Ugh!" from the brown-haired ghostbuster, while Jasper looked around anxiously for Victoria.

"Sorry Spud," Ray shook his head sadly. "Victoria isn't here right now. She's um…"

"She's not herself right now," Winston put in diplomatically.

"A bit of an understatement, wouldn't you say Winston?" Egon asked under his breath.

"Yeah, but no reason to upset him just yet."

Jasper, head bowed floated gently to Egon and looked at him expectantly. Egon on the other hand looked a bit confused. This was new territory for him. Usually when Slimer was depressed or scared he went to either Ray or Peter. Heavens knew why he went to Peter all things considered. All Peter ever did was yell at him or make fun of him, yet Slimer had still attached himself to the man.

'_Maybe he was a masochist when he was alive,'_ Egon mused.

"Um… There, there," Egon said, trying to put in some of what he assumed was 'fatherly' emotion into his words as he patted Jasper on the back awkwardly. Since Egon had never really been close to his father, he didn't have much experience at the whole 'tenderness' thing. Still, it apparently was enough. Jasper slide forward and tucked himself against Egon's chest, covering him in blue slime as the other's looked on, trying desperately hard not to laugh.

* * *

Victoria walked into the firehouse, surprised to see it empty and quiet, save for Janine who was seated at her desk, reading a magazine and filing her nails at the same time. Janine looked up. 

"Oh hi Victoria," she smiled.

Victoria paused for a moment. She had been set to attack, on the off chance that the ghostbusters were indeed onto her, but the way Janine was acting had put her off. So instead she decided to take a more casual approach.

"Hello," she returned a bit more guardedly than she had meant. "Where are the guys?"

"Don't know. I just got here myself," Janine replied. "I'm a bit surprised to see that you were already up and out today though. Anything interesting happen?"

"Nope," she relaxed finally. "Just thought I'd go out and get a bit of fresh air before the interview." Now why was that stupid thing popping up into her head again? Irritated at herself, she pushed the thought of the interview out of her mind.

"I can understand that," Janine nodded.

"So, what'cha readin'?" Victoria hopped up, taking a seat on Janine's desk just like Peter usually did. Janine was surprised to notice that it was a bit annoying. Usually it only bothered her when Peter did it.

"Oh it's some article about some super, mega star that cheated on his wife with a girl half his age and is now planning on marrying her. She's a size 2 as well. It's disgusting I tell you. What's the world coming to these days?"

"What indeed?" Victoria replied disinterestedly.

"I mean, come on. I can't even get a guy to look at me twice and all these super rich woman with torsos the size of my wrist can't keep the guys away."

Victoria raised her eyebrows as she glanced at Janine. She knew the receptionist was right and for a brief moment her heart went out to the woman.

"Egon?" she asked.

"That obvious?"

"To everyone but him," Victoria chuckled. It was nice, this conversation. She felt more like herself than she had in days. For the first time in a long time Groden was quiet and she was able to think and feel for herself.

"So what do you suggest?" Janine asked.

"A two ton boulder on the head?" The picture sent a shiver of pleasure through Victoria as Groden reasserted himself in her mind.

'_No,'_ something deep inside her whimpered. _'Please, no.'_

The rest of her squelched the voice with a sudden punch to her thigh.

"You okay?" Janine asked.

"Cramps," Victoria explained.

"Oh. Yeah. Nasty things those, aren't they?"

"You have no idea."

'_Damn it,'_ Victoria thought to herself. She thought that she was more acclimated than that. Apparently she was wrong. There was still enough of Victoria and Groden individually to cause problems. _'Oh well. Another two nights of good rest should solve that problem.'_

The two woman became aware of voices carrying up from the basement steps. It sounded as though all four men were in deep discussion about some serious problem.

"… and run some tests," Egon was explaining to the others. "We can't do anything until then."

The ghostbusters emerged from the stairway and stopped dead in their tracks as they stared at Victoria and Janine.

"Victoria," Egon stated in shock.

"Vicki," his cousin corrected. "Or did you hit your head and suffer some form of amnesia that I might be unaware of?"

Egon automatically reached up and rubbed the spot where he had hit his head earlier on the microscope. "How did you know?" Heeyed her suspiciously.

Victoria couldn't help but laugh at the irony. "You mean you actually _did_? Oh, now _that_ is a hoot!" If the ghostbusters had not known what they now knew, or at least what they suspected was true, then they could have convinced themselves that everything was fine. As it was, none of them joined in the amusement of the moment.

Finally Victoria regained her composure and tried to put on a more serious face.

"Sorry about that folks," she said, trying to sound sincere.

When no one responded, she glanced atJanine meaningfully. "Tough crowd."

"No kidding," Janine said, herself stunned at the expressions on the guys. They ranged from worried to scared to severely unhappy. Even Peter, crack-up extraordinaire was subdued and quiet.

"Alright, what's going on?" the secretary asked to anyone who might answer.

Victoria leaned in and placed a gentle, caressing hand on Janine's shoulder, nearly causing the woman to jump.

"I think," Victoria whispered in red-head's ear. "That the boys are a bit upset because I've gone and let myself get a 'life' so to speak."

Janine looked utterly confused, but it was Egon who attained Victoria's attention. He stood stock still, his brow furrowed and a look so dark that Victoria had no doubt whatsoever that if Egon was a cartoon character smoke would be pouring out of his nostrils with each breath. In that one moment that Victoria had leaned over to whisper in Janine's ear, Egon had been assailed by the sudden memory of Janine in the clutches of the class-ten ghost from the week before. Janine had almost been killed by that ghost.

Trying to remain calm, Egon stepped forward, his voice low and commanding.

"Get away from her."

It was difficult to tell for sure who the statement was for. While Egon's eyes didn't leave Victoria, the command appeared to be directed more toward Janine.

"Is something wrong Egon?" Janine asked, growing more confused with each passing moment.

"Janine, I think this time you'd better just do as Egon says," replied Winston just as seriously.

"Oh yes, Janine," confirmed Victoria with mocking grace. She had just noticed for the first time the two ghosts that hovered behind the ghostbusters. Slimer, looking as fearful as ever, was holding Jasper back and muttering something to the ghost. She could just imagine what it was as Jasper's expression also turned fearful.

"Do as Egon says," Victoria continued in mocking tones. "If you stay here, I might just hurt you. And that would be bad, wouldn't it?" Janine, catching on to the fact that something was seriously wrong, got up and took the advice, going to stand behind Ray and Winston.

"I see you've been down in the basement looking for things you thought were lost. Shame on you all for not telling me."

"Victoria, listen to me. You're not yourself," Egon started.

"No shit, Sherlock," she guffawed. "If I was, I wouldn't be we right now, would I."

"So you did merge with the ghost," her cousin breathed, catching onto the slip of the tongue.

"Duh! What's the matter cuz? Don't like the new me? Because I've been thinking, and I kinda do. I think I could get use to this whole, other-worldly being thing." Victoria hopped off the desk and swiped her hand through the objects on top, as though testing the boundaries of her new-found powers.

She then glanced at her hand in disappointment.

"Unfortunately, I can't do that all the time yet. And it's still rather limited." She looked up with a grin on her face and shrugged. "But give me time. I'll have it down in two to three days."

"Victoria," Egon tried again. "I think I can help you. I just need to run a few tests. We can get you into the lab and …."

"Who said I need or want your help?" Her eyes flash dangerously as she scanned the group standing before her. She focused on Winston's hand and her smile crept back into place. "I meant to ask you Winston, how _is_ your hand? Did it hurt much? Having it slammed in the cabinet like that I mean. I hope so. I'd hate to think I went through all the trouble of doing that just for a lousy couple of scratches."

"That's harsh," Ray commented without thinking. Winston merely moved his hand behind his back and glared at Victoria. He had a hard time believe that this thing in front of them, whatever it was, had once been the girl that had been so sweet, kind and caring when she first arrived. They all had a problem believing that. Winston knew that Egon must have it the hardest though. This was after all, his cousin, whom he had known all his life.

"Hey, come on," Peter interjected, trying to be the voice of reason and failing miserably. "Be a good girl now and just do what Egon asks and go up to the lab so he can run those tests."

Victoria ignored him in favor of picking around at the little knick knacks on Janine's desk without showing any real interest in them. She was tiring of this. It irritated her really. She knew she should be enjoying this moment, having these obnoxious ghost hunting slobs in such a flux. But there was something stopping her. Something was missing.

"Victo…." Peter started but Egon quickly held up his hand. He was watching the tall blonde woman, misreading her expression. He thought she was actually considering his offer as he stepped toward her, reaching out his hand gingerly to take her arm.

"Let's get you upstairs," He remarked gently.

It was at that moment that Victoria realized why she wasn't enjoying herself. She hadn't inflicted enough pain on them yet. Either physically or mentally and emotionally.

She reacted quite quickly, grabbing his wrist and pulling him forward with one hand as she punched him in the eye with the other, knocking him down onto the floor in front of her. The entire time she sneered at him like a madman.

Peter, Ray, Winston and Janine each took a step forward, Peter reaching for the proton accelerator that was not there, while the ghosts shrank back. The intention of the humans was to help their fallen comrade. They were too late though as Victoria shook her head and ticked a finger at them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Her voice was no longer her own. It had gone, once more to the deep baritone that she had used with Slimer earlier in the day, making the small ghost cringe even more. "I could snap his neck like a twig if I wanted to."

The others looked down to see that she had Egon pinned to the floor in what looked like a very uncomfortable position, with her foot resting against his cheek as his head faced a rather awkward angle. She was using just enough pressure to keep it from moving. Any more pressure and she might very well snap his neck.

"What do you want?" Winston asked through gritted teeth.

"Right now? Nothing," she answered in her unearthly male voice. "I simply wanted to have some fun. And now that I have, I'll leave." She looked down at Egon who was smart enough to know better then to struggle in his current position.

"Of course," Victoria went on. "That's only because I'm not in top form yet. No point in fighting you until we are finally and fully one. Then I'll come back. And I will kill you all, one by one by one by … one." She pointed a finger at each of the standing ghostbusters and Janine in succession before eyeing Egon once more.

"Don't worry too much cousin dear," she smiled. "You'll die too, but I thought I'd save you for last. I want to listen to you cry and scream in utter agony as everyone you care about is killed before your very eyes. Slowly and painfully."

"Iy r oo ohin is?" Egon tried to say.

"What?" Victoria bent down a little to hear better.

"I ed Iy r oo ohin is?"

Victoria still looked lost as to what he said, so Ray spoke up instead.

"I think he's asking 'Why are you doing this?'"

"Oh," she muttered in understanding. Looking as evil as evil could, she gazed into her cousin's eyes. Her own eyes glowing darkly red.

"Because," she spoke as though Egon were a mere child and she was his teacher. Her tone of voice caring the same condescension that some adults harbor toward children that they believe don't really understand anything they say to them, but feel obliged to explain to them anyway. "I still owe you … for the Hotel Hart."

With that she lifted her foot and struck Egon in the face with a sharp kick.

"I'll be going now. If you feel the sudden urge to beg for mercy you can find me there. Though I can't guarantee that I'll be feeling any such thing, but you can still try. Just ask for Groden." She did an easy salute at the ghostbusters and walked out of the building.

"Bu-bye!" she called out in her normal voice as the door shut behind her.

"Don't just stand there!" Janine screamed while the others stood in stunned silence. "_Someone go after her!_"

"No!" Egon yelled as he pulled himself up off the ground. Ray bent down to help him up as Peter and Winston both looked at him in amazement.

"Why?" they asked in unison.

"Because," Egon said with a frown on his face, gazing at the front door. "I can already feel a bruise forming. And she barely touched me."


	10. Chapter 10

"Egon, are you sure?" inquired Ray.

"Positive," said the blonde as he readjusted his jaw. The side of his face burned with pain and he could feel the tenderness around his upper cheekbone and eye that was indicative of the coming bruise.

"There is a high probability that it would be extremely improbable that the forces of fate would be in our favor if we were to confront her under our current conditions."

"Egon …," Peter warned.

"We wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell if we tried to go up against her now," Egon reiterated quickly. "As it stands, she is more than a match for any of us, or even all of is together without our proton packs."

"And with our proton packs, we'd just end up killing her," concluded Winston.

"Something like that," replied Egon.

"She said she still owes you for the Hotel Hart. Any idea what that's all about?" asked Winston.

"Not a clue, but I would definitely like to know."

"Alright, Egon. Out with it. Did you go and insult its mommy behind our backs?" Peter teased.

"As a matter of fact, yes Peter," replied Egon without missing a beat. "I said its mother looked just like _you_."

"You are a cruel, vindictive man, you know that?"

"This coming from the man that's constantly hurling his own insults at Slimer," Egon retorted.

"Yes," Peter smiled sardonically. "But Slimer never threatened to kill me for it."

"Come on guys," Winston pushed. "We need to find out what it is this ghost wants, where it comes from and why it's after us."

"The ghost said its name is Groden," Ray remarked thoughtfully. "Maybe there's something about him in Tobin's."

"You're might be on to something there," nodded Egon. "We'd better go check it out." The group made their way up to the top floor. Once there, Egon grabbed Tobin's Spirit Guide from the bookshelf while Ray got onto the computer to check the online guide.

The ghostbusters had long ago learned that while some spirits did not show up as mentioned in the book itself, they would occasionally show up in the online listings for Tobin's. It was yet another non-miracle of the scientific world, showing that people would much prefer to simply go online into the virtual world to discover facts that they might need in everyday life, rather than to look it up in a book. In fact, one of Egon's greatest fears was that the written word would become absolutely obsolete and people would actually forget how to read and write.

While he and Ray looked the info up, Peter and Winston sat at the kitchen table partaking in a game of thumb-wrestling. Winston, of course, could only use his left hand, his right one still hurting from the cabinet incident earlier. Fortunately for him, that meant that Peter also had to use his left hand, which evened out the match, making both of them suck horribly.

Janine fixed coffee for everyone before joining the two and sneering derisively at their game-play. Peter chuckled at her irritation with them and promptly challenged the secretary to a game. She accepted and a moment later had his thumb pinned beneath her own. Smiling triumphantly, she went back to her coffee while Peter grumbled something about letting her win. Winston put his hand on his friend's shoulder to comfort his failing ego.

Slimer and Jasper drifted over to the couch to get out of the way and tried to watch some TV, though their hearts weren't in it. Still they kept it on, half-heartedly paying attention to the program that was on, the volume low so as not to distract the others.

"Nothing," Egon sighed, slamming the small black book closed. "Have you had any luck Ray?"

"No." Ray shook his head. "There's absolutely nothing mentioned in Tobin's Spirit Guide Online or anywhere else on the net about any creature called Groden. So we know that he's most likely not some demi-god or ultra powerful demonic force."

"For all the good it does us," muttered Winston. "He might as well not even exist."

"Well if that's the case, someone should tell him that," Peter grunted. "He seems to think he does exist."

"What about the Hotel Hart?" Egon asked, looking up at Ray. "Anything online about that?"

"Got a few years?" Ray grimaced. "I put a search in on it and came up with 8,732 possible mentions. Most of them concerning vacation packets to Europe or various books that center around their own fictional Hotel Hart or Hart Hotel. Most of those are romance novels."

"Ohh," Janine perked up at the mention of romance novels. "Do you think you could print out a list of those for me? I need some new reading material." She paused as she saw the look in Egon's eye that told her now was not the time to be book shopping online.

"Maybe later then," she finished lamely.

"Try narrowing it down," Winston suggested. "I mean, obviously this is something recent, or he would have come after us a long time ago. Since we haven't been out of the city in quite a long time, we can assume that whatever is bugging him, happened here."

"Okay," agreed Ray. "I'll try that." He typed in 'Hotel Hart in New York City' and pressed enter. It took a few moments but finally a list of five websites popped up.

"Hey," the red-haired ghostbuster exclaimed. "It worked!"

"Well?" asked Egon. "What does it say?"

"Just a second. Ah, here it is. The Hotel Hart was built in 1882 by a man named Reginald Hart. He was a rich land barren that made his fortune buying and selling property out west. Most of which he claimed was lined with gold. Apparently not everyone was a happy customer. It says that he was found dead in the penthouse of the hotel in 1908. The police thought it was foul play concerning two brothers who had a beef with him about some land they had purchased, but nothing was ever able to be proved."

"Does it say how he died?" asked Peter.

"Yeah," nodded Ray, whose face had gone a sickly shade of grey. "They say his heart had been ripped out."

"Well that's not too bad," said Winston.

"Through his nose," finished Ray.

Everyone in the room swallowed distastefully at the news.

"Oookay, that is bad," Winston corrected himself.

"Talk about putting a real crimp in your party style," Peter muttered.

"Does it say how his heart was ripped through hi nose?" Egon prodded.

"Well now, that's were it gets weird. It says that the body was found in the middle of some type of ritualistic circle. Since the only two people who were ever known to know anything about magic was the Rhoden brothers, the authorities were sure that they were responsible, but they weren't able to get any concrete evidence together."

"Wait," Egon interrupted suddenly. "Go back and say that again."

"What? About the evidence?"

"No, about the brothers. What were their names again?"

"James and George Rhoden," Ray said.

"Groden," Egon breathed. "Ray see what you can pull up on the brothers."

"Okay..."

Ray began typing away furiously again and after a few moments had pulled up a website dedicated to old mysteries. Most particularly the mystery of the Rhoden brothers and the Hotel Hart in New York City.

"James and George Rhoden," he began reading aloud. "Were once as well known in New York City as any politician. They were rich beyond compare, having inherited a large sum from their parents who owned a large chain of stores that dedicated itself to women's undergarments and other delicacies. The older of the two, James, had gone to a very high profile college, while his younger brother, who was thought to have not been quite as smart as his brother. was taught by private tutors at home. Born two years apart, the brothers were extremely close, almost inseparable from the time they were children.

"In 1876, when the boys were in their twenties, their parents died in a mysterious fire. After that, they used their parents money to travel all over the world, including places like Haiti, Africa and Eygpt, were they claimed to have learned all sorts of magics, including Woo Doo. It was this interest in the occult that makes their story so mysterious. When the brothers came to America they immediately made their presence known among high society. They quickly befriended the top of the top notch, including growing land pioneer Reginald Hart of the Hotel Hart fame."

Ray paused to take a deep breath before continuing on.

"The Hotel Hart was the hotel of hotels for the rich and famous of the the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By the fall of 1907, the brothers had run through most of their money. Desperate to make more they signed a land deal with Hart, in the hope that they would be able to go to California, find gold and return, richer than ever. Apparently though Hart sold them a dud. They came back in May of 1908 absolutely furious and claiming that they had been lied to. When Hart refused to return their money or make good on the gold he promised them, they threatened him in front of a large group of people. The claimed he would be dead before the year was out.

"Sure enough, not two months had passed and he was found dead. June 16th to be precise. After the investigation was finished and the police determines that there was nothing they could do, James and George Rhoden filed legal claims to all of Harts properties, based on the fact that they had been swindled. When that failed to win them the hotel, they walked into the ballroom, in the middle of a grand party and shot each other. But not before shouting to everyone in the room, that if they could not have the hotel while they were alive, they would have it once they were dead."

Ray sat back and whistled aloud.

"Man," Winston shivered. "That is just freaky."

"So, what happened to them next. Or to the hotel for that matter. I've lived in New York all my life and I gotta say, I've never heard of any Hotel Hart," Peter remarked.

Ray backed up to his previous page. "According to this, the Hotel Hart was turned into a stage theatre in the spring of 1943. They kept part of the ballroom for USO dances, but the rest was used for plays and musicals. Even the upper floors were turned into apartments to house anyone working at the theatre that needed a home. It was also re-named at the time to La Mort Noire Theatre."

"The Black Death Theater?" Winston exclaimed.

"Winston, I didn't know you knew french," Janine sounded extremely impressed.

"Yeah, well, my grandma's from New Orleans. French-Haitian," he explained.

"Still a rather morbid name for a theatre," commented Egon in wonder.

"Says here it was named in honor of the three deaths. They were famous people you know."

"Famous or no, I don't think I would ever want something named after my death Ray."

Egon looked over to Janine and Winston. "Make note of that will you. The Peter Venkman crushed under a giant ball of slime memorial needs to be nixed."

Peter glared at Egon, who smiled back innocently.

"Can we get on with this please?" asked Janine. "I like Victoria. I'd like even more to get her back this century."

"Okay," Egon thought for a moment as his expression went back to being serious. "We still aren't any closer to knowing anything. I've never heard of La Mort Theatre either."

"Well you wouldn't would you?" asked Ray. "Seems the theatre changed hands more than Peter changes girlfriends. In 1962 it was bought by Irving Ganglehopper. He tore down the upper four stories and converted it into a movie theater. Renamed it "Grand Park Cinema. It's been abandon for years now though."

"Grand Park Cinema?" Peter repeated the name. "Where do I know that name from?"

It was Egon's turn to pale. He turned a ghastly white and backed slowly away from Ray and the computer.

"Egon?" Janine asked. When he didn't answer she started nudging the others.

They looked up and watched as Egon turned and with extreme control, walked downstairs.

"What's wrong with him?" Ray looked at everyone questioningly.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say he saw a ghost," replied Winston.

"That's it!" Peter hit his fist into his palm, a happy grin on his face, as Egon wondered back up the stairs, his nose stuck in a book. It was the ledger Janine used to keep track of ghost busts, including what type of ghosts, what class rating, where they were spotted, and most importantly, where they were caught.

"The Grand Park Cinema," Peter continued, heedless of Egon's ever whitening pallor. "Last week. It's where we finally caught that class-10."

"That's right," nodded Ray. "The one that gave us so much trouble. The one that ..." His face fell as he looked from Egon to Janine to Peter to Winston, whose faces had also fallen at the memory.

"Nearly killed Janine," Winston concluded in a whisper.

"It's my fault." Egon's hands were shaking in fear and sweat had begun to seep from his brow. He let the book fall from his grasp as he sunk into a chair at the kitchen table, running his fingers through his hair nervously.

"It's all my fault."


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N:** Yes, the plot doth thicken. And from here on out it is going to get VERY dark indeed and after that VERY angsty. The author must make note at this point that after this, some of the chapters are going to start containing gratutious violence. Okay, maybe not gratutious, but it isn't going to be pretty... Just thought I should warn all you lovely people._

_**Ormandria**

* * *

_

Egon, Ray and Peter busted through the front doors of the old theater, looking for the ghost that had hidden within only moments before. Winston was the only one left outside, having decided that it would be best if someone stayed in place, just in case the ghost came back out again.

"_Were did it go?" Peter demanded angrily, proton pack at the ready._

_Egon lifted up the PKE Meter to get a reading, but one of the antenna were bent and a spark flew from it as the needle dropped to nothing. The blonde hit the device against the palm of his hand. "Damn it! I can't tell. The PKE Meter's broken. That last blast must have knocked a sensor loose. It's going to take me a few minutes to fix it." _

"_We don't have a few minutes," Ray reminded him. "That thing has Janine."_

"_I know that!" Egon snapped impatiently. He felt immediately sorry as he watched Ray flinch back. They had all watched Janine leave the building to go home for the night when the ghost had come by and grabbed her. If it hadn't been for the fact that Egon and Ray had already managed to make the adjustments to the proton packs that they had needed to make, then there would have been no way they would have been able to follow the ghost this far to begin with. _

_Of course Egon could not help but fell that they were being led here on purpose. Every single time they lost track of the ghost, it would reappear briefly, giving them just enough of a view to get back on its trail._

_They had spent the better part of three days trying in vain to capture this ghost. The few times they had come close, they discovered that the proton packs were not powerful enough to hold the specter. Ray and Egon had finally figured out earlier in the day, how to adjust the packs so that they did more than just tick the ghost off. True, without the adjustment they could still hurt the ghost, but it was almost impossible to keep it still long enough to trap it._

_The fact was, plain and simple, that everyone was on edge and anxious. This ghost was only a class-10 but seemed to have the resistance of something much bigger and the attitude of something much worse. Peter, sensing the tired tension in the air, took the rare step into the role of leader before Ray and Egon ended up at each others throats. _

"_Okay, Ray, you check the basement and start there. I'll go upstairs and check the upper levels. Egon, get that thing fixed and check this floor. If any of us run into it or Janine, well… yell really, really loud." Ray and Egon nodded in assent._

_Egon got to work on the PKE Meter while Peter and Ray took off in opposite directions. He started by bending the antenna back in place and opening the casing to see where the spark had come from. He almost wished he hadn't when he saw that a loose sensor was the least of the damage. Still, he knew it wouldn't be hard to jury-rig it so that it would work until they got the ghost and got back to the firehouse. He could give it a proper fixing then._

_His fingers moved swiftly over wires and nodes and dials and tiny red and green lights. Once he was done, he gently pushed the casing back in place and turned it on to test his work. He went into a slow rotation of the room, hoping to pick up some reading from the ghost they had been chasing. _

_On his third turn, the PKE Meter burst to life as the needle pushed its way up to the nine mark, where it trembled in hesitation. Egon gave a quick swat to the side, to be sure that it wasn't stuck, and it rose up to ten where it stayed. _

_Satisfied that he had done his job properly, he focused on the direction it was facing. It indicated that the ghost was indeed still in the building and on the very level he was on. He slowly walked forward, and through a wide pair of doors that marked the entrance to one of the three individual theaters that made up the cinaplex._

_The room was huge. It had row upon row of seats that face a large stage. The stage itself gave just enough room for a very small group of people to stand upon it before the movie screen. A smaller orchestra-type pit was sunk into the floor in front of it, no doubt used to allow workers to get underneath the stage should something down there be in need of repair. Above, in two separate sections was balcony seating. Each balcony held approximately six to seven rows of fourteen seats, with an aisle down the center and on the outer sides of each one. It wasn't difficult for Egon to put two and two together and determine that this was the main theater in the building._

_Egon lifted the PKE Meter once more and found, much to his consternation that it was flickering toward the nine once more. A sharp hit brought it back up to the ten as he pointed it toward the front of the theater where the stage, screen and orchestra pit lay. _

_Egon stepped forward carefully, never taking his eyes off of the darkened area in front of him, save for the occasional glance at the PKE Meter. The readings became stronger the closer he got, but every once in a while they would dip down to the nine before shifting back up to the ten. It was rather frustrating, but all in all, it could have been much worse in Egon's opinion. It could have stopped working all together and given him no sign of where the ghost might be, giving the ghost an unfortunate advantage over the team._

_Lights flashed brilliantly as the antenna erected fully into an upright position. The ghost was close. Egon quickly pocketed the device in exchange for gripping the gun on his proton pack. This ghost had already proven itself more than a match and he wanted to make sure he was not caught off guard. Especially not with Janine's well being hanging in the balance. _

_Slowly edging forward a touch more Egon glance before him and noticed something strange in the pit. It took him a minute for his eyes to adjust to the shadows with its depths. His heart rushed up to his throat as he realized what it was he was looking at._

_There, in the darkened pit, lay Janine, in mid air, her back to the floor. She appeared unconscious. Her arms were pulled tightly over her head by what looked like piano wire tied to some sort of pulley system at the left of the pit. Her legs, equally stretched an identical pulley, piano wire and all, to the right. As Egon watched, both pulleys slowly rotated a fraction of a centimeter at a time. It wasn't much, but the ghostbuster could tell from the tension in Janine's body that she would not be able to hold up much more under the stress. In fact, he would not be surprised if she the reason for her unconsciousness was due to her passing out from the pain. Nothing kept her from falling to the floor save the wire that now threatened to tear her in two._

"_Delicious looking, isn't she?" asked the ghost as it floated through the screen and smiled down upon the scene. He came to a rest between Egon and the pit. His eyes glowed a deep burning red and ectoplasmic saliva dripped from his gaping jaws that were home to dozens of sharp, needle-point teeth. He did not have anything that could be construed as hands. His appendages ended instead in great, greasy palms that had five claws sticking out from the base. _

_The smell of rot and decay hung in the air around him as pieces of ghostly debris shifted silently about his form. The only thing even remotely human about the ghost was the look of bloodlust in his eyes. _

"_Let her go," Egon warned, pointing the proton gun toward the ghost._

"_Now why would I do that? She will make me such a luscious treat. And when I am done devouring her flesh, I shall bind her spirit to me and take her as my bride."_

_Egon heard the slight click of the gears on the pulleys, registering the tightening of Janine's body in the restraints. Three days. Three days they had hunted this ghost down and now he had Janine and was going to murder her. They were the Ghostbusters. It was their job to capture ghosts. It was their job to protect people. Janine was a person the same as any other, but at the same time she was more. She was a member of what had become their very lose, quasi-dysfunctional family and he would be damned if he would let some ego-maniacal ghost turn her into the next Bridezella of Hell. Besides all that, Janine really was the only one that even knew the filing and billing system at the firehouse and they'd be truly lost without her. Egon would be lost without her…._

"_Do you honestly think I'll allow you to get away with this?" _

"_You have no choice. Your toys have already proven useless against me. I am more powerful than you can possibly imagine. We will bring pain and suffering to the world around us and no one will be able to stop us. Not even you."_

_Rage built up in Egon's mind, clouding his senses as his fingers moved numbly and nimbly over the controls of the proton pack. It was as though all his memories were stored in those fingers of his as the danced lightly, adjusting this and that. He and Ray had made the newest adjustments to the pack so that they could finally capture this ghost, so it wasn't difficult for Egon to adjust them even more. Adjustments that would not only hold the ghost, but would hurt him as well. The ghost wanted pain, so Egon was about to douse him in it. The ghost noticed none of this._

"_I'll destroy you here before I let you have her!" Egon turned the pack on, aiming it straight for the ghost's torso. The ghost screamed in agony. His body twisted in pure agony, yet to Egon it still wasn't enough. He turned up the power, sending another all-new torturous wave of pain into the ghost. How long he stood there doing this, he didn't remember, except that at some point he had turned the power up so high that his proton pack shock out of control, threatening to explode and the ghosts howls had become so loud that they could be heard several blocks away._

_Suddenly a second and third beam were added to the one that was already holding the ghost._

"_We've got him Egon!" Peter yelled from behind the blonde. "Turn off your pack before it's too late! Ray, the trap!"_

_Egon fell backwards as he shut his pack off. It trembled and buzzed, making him wonder if he was already too late, but then it finally settled down into a calm quiet. He was surprised to find that it was hot to the touch and that had he not been wearing heavy duty gloves, he might have fried his hands._

_Ray threw out the trap and opened it as Peter, still behind Egon and Winston, who was now standing on the opposite side of the small stage as Ray, kept the ghost held by the proton beams from their packs. The ghost, who had finally stopped howling, still appeared to be in a great deal of pain as ectoplasm smoked off him and dissipated into thin air. The trap opened, with its bright, white light pouring forth, and closed again, blinking in time to signify the capture of the ghost._

_Winston grabbed the loaded trap and hoped down into the pit where he called to Peter for help with Janine. Peter ran forward, his pocket knife in hand and began to cut the secretary down. Egon could hear her groaning as she regained consciousness, Winston and Peter telling her that she was safe now._

"_You okay?" Ray asked, helping Egon up._

"_Yeah," replied Egon, shaking his head to clear it._

"_Boy, you're lucky," the red-haired ghostbuster muttered as he glanced at Egon's proton pack. "I guess the same blast that broke the PKE Meter must have affected your pack."_

_Egon eyed Ray and for a brief moment wondered if he should tell him the truth, but then decided against it. **'No use in going into details that the others didn't need to know,' **he thought. As Ray said, they simply had to take it back and he could fix it before the next use. It shouldn't be too problematic. Besides, it wasn't as if anything seriously bad would happen if he didn't tell the others what really happened. They already had their ghost and Janine was safe now and that's all that mattered.

* * *

_

Egon recounted the tale with the same blurred velocity usually reserved for race car drivers and stand-up comics. He kept his head low, avoiding their gaze and wishing to God that he had told them everything sooner. He knew that this was going to have a profound affect on how they viewed him. His best hope would be that they didn't judge him too harshly.

When he was finished explaining what had happened there was a stunned silence in the room. The others looked at Egon like he had just stepped out of a portal from another dimension and informed them that man was really descended from aliens that looked like carpet bags and that soon they would be taking a trip into outer space to re-join the mothership.

It took several minutes for each person in the room to digest this new information. Each person opened and closed their mouths several times, trying to figure out which of the multiple questions and comments they wanted to say should come first. Peter was the first one to find his voice.

"Let me get this straight," he said, his hand clasped against his forehead to stem the growing migraine that was on the verge of overwhelming him. Peter had never liked having to think on complicated matters, and what Egon had just divulged was nothing short of the biggest tangled mess of complicated that Peter had ever dealt with. "You, Egon, _our _Egon, the same man who, when no one is looking, helps little kittens down from trees, who likes playing with ameba's thinks that Santa Claus still exists …."

"He does," Egon interrupted. "I've seen him."

Peter ignored the interruption and continued on. "And who normally is about as emotional as a garbage truck, _tortured _a ghost?"

"Yes," Egon confirmed, in a steady voice.

"And did it make you feel any better?" Peter asked in mock concern.

"At the time, yes."

"You know Egon, if your having anger management issues, you might want to find a better way to resolve them."

"Yeah," agreed Ray. "You can always try putting peanut butter and jelly in Peter's bed. I find that always helps me with my anger issues."

"So he tortured a ghost," Winston said. "Big deal. We've all wanted to do that at one time or another. What's that got to do with what's going on with Victoria?"

"Don't you see?" Egon explained. "That ghost wasn't the only one there. The PKE Meter kept trying to register another ghost. A class-9. And I, in a brief episode of infinite stupidity, chose to believe that it was merely a glitch caused by the earlier break."

"And Groden was a class-9," commented Ray.

"You don't think that the class-10 was Groden's brother, do you?" Winston asked.

"That's precisely what I think," nodded the blonde. "If Groden was his brother and he saw what I did, then I can't exactly blame him for wanting me dead."

"But that doesn't mean he needs to go killing the rest of us in the process," Peter pouted.

"He apparently disagrees. It seems that he is taking revenge to the eye for an eye level. I tortured his brother, and then all of us took that brother away from him. To him there's probably no greater crime then that."

"But we had to catch him," Ray remarked. "He had Janine."

"Maybe, but Peter is right. I should have kept my temper under control. He said that '_we will bring pain and suffering_' and I assumed he meant Janine, after he made her his bride. But what if he had meant Groden?"

"Like I'd ever marry _that_ slimeball." Janine shuddered at the thought.

"Well at least we have a better idea of what's going on now. Maybe now we can get through to Victoria," Ray suggested.

"Yeah," agreed Winston. Peter however did not look convinced, nor did Egon.

"Not possible," Egon said sadly. "If anything, this will make it even harder to get through to her."

"What do you mean?" asked Ray.

"She's an empath, remember? Not only can she sense what other people feel, but she tends to commiserate. Their emotions become hers. If they feel sad, she feels sad. If they feel happy, she feels happy. If they feel angry, she feels angry. I don't know just how bad it is for her, but I know it was hell on my aunt," Egon explained. "This is even worse though. It isn't like Groden is something or someone that she can just walk away from. They're integrating into a whole being, yet with two minds. Everything he feels, she's bound to feel as well and with them getting closer and closer to completing that integration, she's no doubt already convinced that his hatred is hers as well. When they finish, even their minds will be one."

"So how are supposed to separate them if we can't get her in here?" Winston inquired.

Egon eyed the ecto-plasm wave de-amplifier that he had been working on when Victoria had first come to visit. A smile crept slowly across his fast as the gears in his brain began clicking together once more.

"Ray," he began. "Do you still remember how to adjust the particle beams so that they can be used without hurting a human, yet still be able to hold that person and or a ghost?"

"I think so," answered Ray.

"Good. Get started on making the necessary adjustments to the packs. I also want that extra pack in full working order. Janine, take Slimer and Jasper back down to the basement. They should be safe if they stay down there. At the very least, if Groden does show back up they'll get enough warning to get out of the building."

"Alright," the secretary nodded.

"I'm going to work on reversing and making some adjustments of my own to Victoria's little science project."

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Winston.

"Not at the moment. Unless one of you wants to cook breakfast for the rest of us. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day, and a possibly even longer night. Victoria said she couldn't pass herself through objects at will yet. That it would be another two to three days before she could. I'm assuming that means it will take another two to three days for them to finish merging. Which gives us two to three days to separate them, and the sooner we do just that. The better."


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N:** Okay, even I am starting to get a bit anxious now. This story has started taking some unexpected turns. I love it when a story just sort of starts evolving on itself. It makes it that much better when it comes to the pinnicle. Anyway, here is the next chapter and hopefully I will have another one soon. The next one will be the hardest for various reasons. After that most of it is already written and/or will be pretty easy to write. Anyway, as always I look forward to everyone's thoughts, so please R&R!_

_**Ormandria**_

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Winston threw his now soggy cereal into the sink and began to preparations for a more solid meal for everyone. Eggs, bacon, hash browns and sausage.

True to Egon's earlier prediction, a large, ugly bruise had begun to appear on his cheek, running up into his eye, which had even started swelling a bit. It was so bad that Janine couldn't help but wince in sympathy pain when she looked at him. Without even waiting to be asked, the secretary grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer and wrapped it in a towel so that Egon could put it over his face and stopped further swelling.

Peter, for his part, remained ever vigilant as he took turns watching the door and spying out the window for signs of Victoria returning. He did not relish the idea of any of them being caught off-guard again, and as long as Victoria was under Groden's control, it was not that far fetched a fear.

He thought about the few short days that he had known Victoria as Victoria. He liked her. She had been totally different from what he had expected. There was a moment there, where he had expected a shorter, female version of Egon. He had been pleasantly surprised to find that it had not been true. They're brief, but interesting conversations had been enough for him to know that they could become fairly good friends. Then this had to happen.

It sickened Peter to no end. It was bad enough to be possessed by a ghost. Heaven knew that Peter had already had more than his fair share of experience in that department, though that experience, of course, consisted mostly of watching it happen to others. Somehow though, this was worse. He glanced quietly over at Egon, and he suddenly knew why this was worse.

Victoria wasn't merely some woman that Peter had been hitting on. She wasn't a client or even a complete stranger. She was family. She was Egon's family, and Egon was like a brother to Peter. It wasn't hard to note that Egon, for all his bravado, was blaming this all on himself.

Peter was struck with the odd thought of how tired and vulnerable he suddenly looked. Egon, who had always seemed the strongest one of all. Peter often found himself jealous of the way that Egon was able to keep his emotions under control, yet here, he had lost it in the most obscene way and now they were paying for it.

Perhaps Egon was right. Perhaps they were paying a price for someone letting their emotions run free when that same someone didn't normally give his emotions the proper freedom that emotions sometime need. Maybe this was the way the great and all powerful Murphy pays back those that go against the grain.

Then again, maybe this was the balance for something wonderful that had not yet happened. Like say, winning next week's lottery. Peter could deal with that, and it took the blame off of Egon's shoulders. That was the important thing. Making sure that Egon knew that ultimately, it wasn't his fault and that things would be all right. Peter didn't know how, but he did know that metaphorically speaking, everything works out in the end.

A quick glance at Janine told Peter that he was not the only one thinking along those lines. For her though, it had to be doubly painful. Egon had lost his temper because she had been in danger. Everyone who knew the two were well aware that the pair cared deeply for each other. This just solidified it. Of course, getting Egon to admit to any such attraction, let alone do anything about it, was like trying to squeeze grape juice out of a turnip. So that made two people that felt they had legitimate reasons to blame themselves for it.

Three if Peter counted Slimer. He just knew the spud was upset at himself for having caused Ray to drop the trap in the first place. Then there was, in fact, Ray, and sure enough, he caught a guilty glance from the red-haired ghostbuster as well. Had he not dropped the trap in the first place then none of this would have happened.

Peter wondered briefly if anyone had thought of blaming Victoria for creating such a device in the first place, but he knew that no one had and no one would. None of them had anyway of knowing what would have happened. He had to face it. They may blame each other or other people for a lot of things, and even get into fights over it, but when it came to the crunch, each of them was more than willing to secretly bare their brunt of the responsibility for whatever hell had been created at the time. Even he and Winston, as they keep asking themselves, _'Was there something I could have done to prevent this?'_

Peter sighed and went back to watching for Victoria and hoping beyond hope that it wasn't too late to save her.

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The ghostbusters worked almost all day, only taking breaks to eat, use the restroom or rest their eyes. Egon had, after all, already been up most of the night once and the more he worked on the device, the more he felt that this was going to be another all-nighter. Halfway through the day Peter had walked up and insisted that Egon get some rest in his bed. When Egon protested, the brunette called out to Winston and the two physically lifted Egon away from the table and carried him into the bedroom where they were about to strap him down, until he finally agreed to take a two-hour nap, but only if they promised not to let him over-sleep. They nodded in agreement.

A very short two hours and fifteen minutes later Egon was back at work. Victoria's invention sat before him as he slowly, yet steadily, took it apart. Next to it sat Egon's own invention, the ectoplasm wave de-amplifier, its side opened up as well. Every once in a while Egon would look up from his work to look at his own invention. Occasionally he would spend a few moments poking around inside of it before nodding in approval or confirmation.

It was extremely hard for any of the others to know which as Egon usually took on the stance that all of technology, or at least that which he had invented, could hear him as they communicated on some telepathic level. It was usually at that point that Peter found himself making the suggestion that Egon take his invention of the week out for a nice candlelight supper and then back to some cheap motel so they could consummate their relationship. Peter also found himself exceedingly grateful, in times such as those, that Egon was not a very good shot.

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Day wore on and drifted silently into night as the crew of ghostbusters continued working, watching and waiting. Across the city, as the blanket of dusk settled across the skyline of New York, passer-bys failed to notice the single female figure ascended non-existent steps above the old Grand Park Cinema. They didn't even bother to look up in the chance of seeing the woman lay down, floating on a bed that had not existed for over sixty years or more. Nor did it occur to them to gasp in awe as a ghostly light began to emanate from the lone figure, twisting the very air around it.

What they did notice, in the wee hours of the morning, when the only people left to notice were street walkers, bums, drug-dealers and other miscreants of no importance, was the way the building seemed to have become four stories taller over night. They noticed that the extra floors appeared to shift and change, as though they were trying desperately to hang on to some bare thread of tangibility. They noticed that the floors that had already existed had begun to change and a new, older look, had slowly started enveloping the derelict building, in the hope that it might swallow it up into its own reality.

One man even noticed the glaring, glowing eyes of the people that seemed to come from another time as they entered the building, or disappear into nothingness as they left. It was in fact, the last thing the man ever noticed, as his sudden fear pushed his feet into a flight of motion that his body was ill equipped for. Two blocks later his poor old heart gave out. Three minutes after that, his ghost was sucked back into the Hart Hotel. It never stood a chance.

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Ray jolted awake to the sound of the phone ringing downstairs and Janine's curt, all business voice responding "Ghostbusters. You got 'em, we plot 'em."

"I think Janine needs more sun," Ray yawned as he glanced at the clock. He growled as he remembered that it was still broken. "Any idea what time it is?" he asked Peter, who hadn't moved from his spot on the window sill, since Ray had fallen asleep on the couch a few hours before.

"Last time I checked it was about four-thirty in the morning. That was around fifteen minutes ago when I had to get up to use the can."

"Right," Ray sighed as he gently pushed Winston's still sleeping form to the other end of the couch so he had more room to himself. He glanced over where Egon was still working tirelessly, before he looked back at Peter.

"You know Pete, you should get some sleep too. It won't do any of us any good if we're all too tired to go after … _her_."

"It's not _'her'_ Ray. It's him. Groden is a _him_. I don't care what the hell he looks like, or whose body he may be currently using, he is still a_ he_."

"Yeah, alright. But the point still stands."

Peter sat up and hopped down. "Actually, I'm not really that tired. I bit stiff, but not that tired." He craned his neck to the side until it popped for emphasis. "Besides, someone needs to stay awake in case Egon needs anything."

"What about Janine?" Ray asked.

Peter shrugged. "I figured I'd be nice and let her get some sleep too."

"That bad, huh?" Ray asked. He liked his friend, but he knew Peter well enough now to know that if he was "being nice" and letting Janine sleep while he stayed awake, it meant that Peter was more concerned about the situation than he was letting on. Specifically, he was concerned about Egon.

"Yeah," Peter nodded. "You should have seen him forty-five minutes ago. He nearly burned himself a new eye by nodding off while soldering. I tried to get him to take another nap, but he refuses."

"Can you blame him?" Ray replied. "If we don't get to Victoria before she finishes merging with Groden, who knows what will happen?"

"Done!" Egon shouted triumphantly from the table.

"Finally," Ray breathed in relief. "I was beginning to think it would never get finished. Winston, wake up!" He nudged the sleeping ghostbuster, calling out his name, until Winston finally shoved him away, opening his eyes at the same time.

"What?" he asked groggily. "What happened? Did the Red Sox win the Pennant?"

"Not hardly!" Peter laughed. "But something just as good just happened. Egon made a new friend."

"Huh?" Winston looked around in confusion.

"He finished his work on Victoria's device," Ray explained, throwing Peter an exasperated look.

"Ray, did you get the proton packs adjusted?" Egon called out as he stood, fully awake for the first time in days.

"Amazing the healing effect of adrenaline," Peter mused quietly to Winston.

"Yeah," Ray answered. "They're all set to go. And I gave the extra one to Janine, just like you asked."

"Unadjusted?" Egon prodded.

"Yup," nodded Ray.

"Good. Then we're all set to…." Egon's voice drifted off as he watched Janine come up the stairs. She had the same look she got on her face when she was about to tell the boys that the tax man was on his way to do an audit. Whatever she was about to tell them was not going to be good news.

"Okay Janine," Peter began sardonically. "Who died and what's it gonna cost us?"

"A bum," she replied. The four men looked at her, too astonished to remark.

"Excuse me?" Peter asked. He had not really expected that answer to that particular question.

"A bum died," she repeated. "He had a heart attack."

"What does that have to do with us?" Winston asked, feeling as though he should still be dreaming. Mainly because he was positive that waking life usually made more sense than this.

"He was two blocks away from the Grand Park Cinema. They think he was trying to run away from it."

Egon covered his face with his hand, almost afraid to ask the next question. He finally relented though. "And just way, may I ask, was he trying to run away?"

"They aren't certain, but they think it might have something to do with the sudden appearance of the buildings top four floors," Janine remarked.

"Janine, there are only three floors to that building," Peter corrected.

Janine smiled wanly. "I know …."

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Half an hour later the ghostbusters stood in front of the Grand Park Cinema, that had once been the Hotel Hart, and gaped in amazement at its eerie, spectral, seven story transformation.

"That is not three floors," Peter said despondently.


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N:** Okay, here, FINALLY, is the next chapter. I have been super busy lately and my mind has been running everywhere lately. So again, my apologies on the lateness of this._

_**Ormandria**_

* * *

The air in the hotel was heavy and thick, almost choking in its consistency. The ghostbusters moved slowly through the fog of time, watching as people passed them on all sides, ignoring the fact that the four did not fit-in in any way, shape or form.

Gone was the theater that they had stood in the week before. Instead there was a grand lobby with a concierge at the front entrance.

"Good evening gentlemen," he bowed, light from the wall candles flickering off his small, balding head. "May I take your coats?" He reached out his thin, wrinkled hands as though prepared to take more than just their coats.

"No, thank you," replied Egon. "I think we'll keep them."

"Very well sir," nodded the concierge. "If you change your mind, I will be right here."

The ghostbusters moved away from the front entrance and into the the crowded lobby itself.

"Okay, I feel like I've just walked into a bad sci-fi movie," Peter scowled.

"Hey, this is just like that episode of Star Trek that was on the other night. You know, the one where Kirk, Spock and McCoy end up in that old time casino on that fake earth and can't get out?" Ray looked at the other excitedly, as though they should be sharing the joy at his revelation.

"If anyone asks, Ray," Peter remarked, moving ever so slightly away. "I don't know you."

"I don't think that will be a problem, Peter." Egon was staring at the PKE Meter as he slowly moved it back and forth over the crowd. "Most of these apparitions aren't even registering on the PKE Meter."

"What. You mean like they don't exist?" Winston asked, though he didn't relax his grip on his proton charger.

"Can I see that?" Ray asked. Egon nodded and let Ray lean in to take a look.

"Wow!" the red-head exclaimed. "That must mean …. This is a full-blown spectral phantasm fed by Groden's existing recollections of the period of time before his death."

"Come again?" Winston raised an eyebrow.

"He's dreaming the whole place up," translated Peter warily. "Come on guys, there has to be something more to this. Some of these items look pretty solid." As if on cue a waitress walked by, carrying a tray of martinis. Peter thrust his hand out and picked one up off the tray to prove his point.

"Would you like a cigar to go with that sir?" asked the waitress, whom Peter noticed for the first time looked almost skeletal in appearance. The fact that she had no lips, or even much of a mouth for that matter, merely added to the view as a sharp shiver of cold went down Peter's spine.

"No thanks," he laughed nervously, putting the drink back on the tray.

The waitress shrugged her shoulders and moved on through the crowd.

"As I was saying," Peter remarked after clearing his throat. "There has to be more to this place than some ghost's deluded daydream."

"I'm sure there is Peter," Egon replied. "This building has been the sight for several massive supernatural occurrences since it was originally built. Most notably the death of Reginald Hart, by the Rhoden brothers."

"Well, they were heavy into the black mojo schtick," Winston added. "Who are we to say that this isn't just more of the same?"

"Who indeed." Egon looked up and really gazed at his surroundings for the first time since their arrival to the hotel. "Well, let's get this show on the road then." He turned off the PKE Meter and started for the front desk.

"Egon wait," Ray pulled his friend back. "What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious? Victoria told us that if we wanted to find her, we should come here and ask for Groden. And that's precisely what I intend to do."

"Oh," Ray let go of Egon and eyed Peter and Winston nervously. Peter shrugged indifferently and followed Egon, who had begun walking away again, while Winston looked a bit more nervous, but followed anyway. Ray sighed, falling into step behind his friends. He didn't like this place. It gave him the creeps and while he couldn't quite put his finger on it, he suddenly felt as though something very bad was about to happen.

* * *

Groden's eyes flared open. They were here. He felt them the moment they crossed the threshold into the hotel. He floated back down to the solidity of the roof and smiled. The illusion of a seven story building was becoming easier to maintain as time elapsed. The fact that Groden had already begun feeding off of the spectral energy in the surrounding area, and that he still had all the knowledge and skills of the magic he possessed when alive also helped. It was slowing becoming more solid and once the mergence was completed, he would have the power to do whatever he wanted, with whatever he wanted. The world would be his.

Of course one of the first things he would do after destroying those insipid nitwits called the ghostbusters, would be to release his older brother and all the other ghosts that had been captured. Those ghosts would then see his brother and him as the Gods that they had always wanted to be, never suspecting that they would merely serve them as food for a great feast.

Looking around the hint of the old room he now stood in, Groden caught sight of his reflection in a mirror and frowned. The body he was in still looked very much as it had when they first began to bond. Granted, now the woman's skin was more of a ghastly grey pallor, her eyes were blood red with glowing irises, and her face was lined with Groden's own evil intents, but it was still a woman that stared back at him. He hated that fact, but supposed he would have to get use to it. After all, he was going to be stuck in this body for a long time.

Not that it was completely bad. He did now have access to a high level of knowledge and intelligence. Plus he could feel her spirit becoming more subdued under his own all the time. It was no longer a matter of her feeling and thinking like him. After that last rest, he had become the dominate personality, with hers slipping more into him. Only a fraction of her former self remained. He had even begun assimilating her memories and thought patterns.

No, being in the woman's body was not the actually reason that he was upset. It was more the confusion it caused him. He was no longer sure if he was in fact a 'he' or a 'she' or more appropriately an 'it'. And that was not something he relished debate on.

Still, he could deal with all that after he killed Egon and the others. After that, there would be plenty of time for everything else.

* * *

"Excuse me," Egon said as he walked up to the zombie-looking gentleman manning the front desk. "Could you please tell us where we might find Groden?"

"Mr. Groden?" came un-earthly reply. Winston, who was standing right behind Egon, thought it odd that the man's voice could sound both English and Hellish at the same time, but had to admit that he did it quite well.

"Certainly," the ghost of a man continued. "He is in the penthouse on the top floor. I can have one of the bellhops take you up." Without waiting for an answer he rang a small bell that sat on the desk. No sooner had it been tapped than a large, see-through entity, roughly the size of a small country and wearing a tattered and graying bellhop uniform, appeared.

"Um, that won't be necessary," remarked Egon, a little leerily. "I think we can find it on our own."

"Very well," the man behind the desk returned. With a wave of his hand, the bellhop disappeared. The ghostbusters quickly retreated from the desk as other 'guests' made their own way up to it.

Egon turned to the others. "Okay, you heard him. Groden's upstairs. Let's go get him." He gripped the proton blaster a bit more tightly as the others nodded and started to turn to the stairs before realizing that what he was looking at was not real.

"Um, Egon?" Ray asked timidly. "Which stairs do we take?"

"Give me a minute," Egon replied concentrating. He tried to focus his eyes on the stairs in front of him and sure enough, they were ever so slightly translucent. He glanced around at the rest of the room with the same focus, looking for the building that he knew for a fact was under the illusion that Groden had created. Finally he caught sight of a set of stairs slightly off of the ones that they thought they were seeing. Nodding, Egon looked at the others.

"The stairs are about three meters to the right of the ones we can see. If you concentrate, you should be able to see through the illusion enough to see them. We'll take those."

"Hey, I don't care which ones we take," Peter remarked. "Just so long as we take them before Andre the Giant Bellhop comes back to lead the way."

"Too right," nodded Winston.

Egon led the others to the stairs and gingerly felt out with the tip of his foot to ensure that the stairs were indeed there. Once satisfied that they were, he began winding his way up them. Visions of his last visit to this place swam across his mind, causing him to hesitate on more than one occasion.

As if sensing his trepidation, Peter gently tapped Egon's shoulder. Egon jumped slightly back in surprise.

"You know Egon, I understand that this isn't the easiest thing in all the world, but do you think we might hurry it up a bit? I mean, Groden isn't going to wait forever. I think…."

Egon sighed. "You're right Peter. But unless you can see the near invisible stairs, you're just going to have to be patient." Internally though, he knew his friend was right.

Egon began moving once more up the steps, this time keeping his mind focused on the present. Sure enough the ghostbusters moved much more quickly up the flight of stairs. When they got to the second landing, they were awestruck at the difference between floors.

Where the first floor had been a near perfect replica of a turn-of-the-century hotel, in sight, sound and touch, the second floor was most definitely not so. Instead, it bordered on a bad b-movie special effect. The illusion was there, but not nearly as solid. It wavered badly, with the reality of what the building actually looked like, still somewhat visible underneath.

Figures walked the long corridors, no longer looking like normal humans. Here, there was no doubt that the partially transparent folk were either ghosts, sucked into the building for Groden's use, or part of the illusion to begin with.

"Is it just me, or does anyone else feel the sudden need for a pair of 3D glasses?" Ray mused aloud.

"Only you Ray," Peter retorted.

"Don't know about 3D glasses, but I could definitely go for some Tylenol," Winston remarked.

"It appears that the internal illusion gets weaker the further up we go," Egon stated, ignoring the others.

"And that means what to me?" Peter asked.

"Well, for one, it means that it will be easier to see the stairs and where we're going," the blonde ghostbuster replied. "It also means that Groden still isn't at full power. I'm guessing that it's more difficult for him to maintain an illusion where there is nothing to begin with."

"So if he's in the penthouse, which would normally be on the seventh floor, how do we get up there?" Ray asked. "The way this floor looks, when we get past the third floor, from our perspective, we'll be standing on the roof."

"Easy," Peter smirked. "We'll just yell at him."

The others gave Peter a look of utter disbelief. "Oh," he returned. "As if none of you have ever yelled in New York City? How do _you _hail a cab then?"

"He's got a point," Winston conceded as the others nodded.

"Let's get going. The stairs to the third floor should be around the corner." Egon turned the corner, and made his way up to the third floor, the others following.

Egon's hypothesis proved true, as they noted that the illusion was barely even an overlap to the reality of the third floor. The doors to the film rooms stood out prominently against any attempt at making them look like hotel rooms. The stairs to the roof, sat between the doors, just as before, leading up to the heavy metal door that would, hopefully, lead them outside and to Groden/Victoria.

Without so much as a word, all four guys turned on there proton packs and readied themselves for a full-out assault the moment they opened the door. Peter took the lead this time, and kicking the door wide open, the ghostbusters leapt out onto the roof of the building. Much to their surprise, the assault never came.

Gazing around, they saw a shell of the illusion that surrounded the building. Ot left them with the impression of being on the cop-side of a two-way mirror. They could see though it and out into the real world, but no one on the outside could see into it.

"So, you finally made it, um?"

They turned and saw a figure floating, with it's back toward them, staring out over the city. It turned to face them, eliciting gasps from the group. It looked like Victoria, yet it didn't. Her skin was a translucent grayish white, with her veins showing underneath. Her cheeks looked sunken in, her lips were chapped and dead looking, and her eyes glowed eerily red, emphasizing the dark circles underneath. Even her hair was also no longer the golden blonde it had been before, having at some point turned to a greenish ash color.

"I must say, you came sooner than I expected. No matter. You were unable to defeat me before and you will be unable to do so now. At least not without harming your precious Victoria in the process."

Ray cringed inside. Once again it was no longer in her voice. It had dropped back down to the same baritone it had been back at the firehouse, only this time it also sounded ancient and horrible, a rasping reverberation of pure evil.

Peter was reminded faintly of the movie The Shining with the consensus that Jack Nicholson had nothing on this. It was a small consensus though, seeing as he had never cared for the actor to begin with.

"Victoria, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but we are going to get you out of this," Egon said.

Victoria laughed. It was a hideous laugh that sent cold shivers down the spines of the Ghostbusters.

"There is no getting her out of this," he said. "Every moment, brings us closer still as we become one. I am her and she is me." She walked toward the four Ghostbusters, eyeing each of them individually. "The only question is which of you shall I destroy first?"

Ray caught it. He wasn't sure though, that anyone else had. Victoria, _'No, Groden,'_ he reminded himself silently, had said destroy, _not_ kill. Maybe it was his imagination, but to him, that was a sign that Egon's cousin was still in there. At least he hoped it was.

"Uh-um," he cleared his throat. "I do." He gently placed his pack on the ground next to the door and began walking toward the ghost/human.

His fellow ghostbusters looked at Ray in shock.

"Ray, what are you doing?" Peter asked, at a total lose. "This wasn't part of the plan."

"Don't worry Pete," Ray said with gusto. "I know what I'm doing." All he needed to do was distract Groden long enough for the others to get their shots in.

Groden eyed Ray with an appreciation akin to one looking at a large meal after having gone hungry for months on end, as the red-haired ghostbuster walked toward him and away from his friends. Groden had not expected it to be this easy. For one of them to actually volunteer, was indeed, a sweet treat. It meant that the fool most likely thought he had an idea, and would be all the more devastated to learn it would fail.

Ray stopped right out of arms reach of Victoria and raised his eyes up.

"I know Victoria's in there, and there is no way she'll let you hurt any of us."

"Then you," The creature sneered, stretching her arm out to reveal long red claws at the end of her hands. "Are a fool."

"Ray! Get away from her!" Egon's warning came too late as Victoria hurried forward, taking hold of Ray by the wrists. She began pulling at them, as Ray cried out in pain. She paused briefly, chuckling to herself as she did so.

"What shall I do with you now, little worm? Shall I pluck your limbs from your body? After all, little worms like you should not have appendages, now should they?" She tugged on his arms again, eliciting yet another scream of pain from Ray.

Egon raised his blaster, prepared to fire at Victoria. "Let go …"

Peter grabbed Egon's arm and pushed it down. Egon looked at his friend and saw Peter nodding toward Victoria and Ray and suddenly knew why Peter had stopped him. Victoria, or Groden has they kept having to remind themselves, was so engrossed with tormenting Ray, that she was no longer really paying attention to the others.

Peter quietly put his own pack down, so as to give him as much agility as possible for what he was about to do. He silently slipped sideways until Victoria's back was once more to him.

"Perhaps I should rip your head off instead," Victoria laughed as she let go of one arm and took hold of the top of Ray's head.

"It won't hurt, I'm sure. Then again, that's what we told Hart before we pulled his internal organs out through his nose and he looked pretty pained to me."

Peter looked at Egon.

"Please …" Ray stammered. "Victoria…"

"Please, please please," Victoria mocked. "Don't you pitiable whiners ever tire of begging?"

Egon nodded and Peter charged at the monstrosity that had once been Victoria Alderat, hoping to off balance it with the surprise attack. Victoria spied him first, however and deftly moved out of the way, throwing Ray straight into the roof's door with a sickening thud. She then brought her arm around until it connected with the brunette ghostbuster's back in a solid thwack, tossing his body through the air. Peter tumbled to the ground, the wind knocked out of him.

"Ray, are you okay?" Winston called, has he scurried over to his friend.

"I think so, Winston. OW!" He looked down at his right arm and cursed. "Damn! I can't move my arm very well. Help me with my proton pack."

Winston busied himself getting Ray set up so that he could still fire his proton gun if necessary while Victoria rounded on Peter once more.

"Do you honestly think you can sneak up on me you pathetic miscreant?" The words echoed from Victoria's mouth, dripping distain. She charged at him, her hand going for his throat.

"That … was the plan … yes," Peter responded as he struggled to stand up and get away from her at the same time. He couldn't move fast enough. Victoria lifted Peter off the ground and threw him away like a rag doll.

"Die."

The world shifted under the remaining ghostbusters' gazes. It slowed down, to microscopic level, until they found themselves frozen in time as their friend hovered in mid-air for what seemed like an eternity. They watched in muted horror, unable to move quickly enough through the impenetrable miasma of space and time, as Peter flew from the roof in slow motion to land on the concrete ground three and a half stories below, causing the world to snap rapidly back into place.

"No!" Ray screamed, his eyes wide with shock. He lunged forward automatically, only to be overcome by pain.

Winston reflectively turned his head away, his eyes screwed shut in the desperate hope that when he opened them again, it would have been another illusion, like the ones downstairs.

"Peter!" Egon cried, running to the edge of the building. He glanced down at his friend's body, lying crumpled on a small pile of garbage the white of a bone jutting out from his ankle. Blood pooled at the back of his head and seeped in small amounts from his mouth and nose.

From this distance Egon couldn't tell if Peter was still breathing or not.

* * *

_**Additional A/N:** Gee, Don't hate me because I'm beautiful... Hate me because I am leaving one hell of a cliff hanger and I do not know when I will be able to update again. Reviews are much appreciated and I suppose at this point I should be at least a little open to some flaming... LOL_

_Afterall, I did just keel-haul one of our most beloved Ghostbusters;-_

_**Ormandria** (who is now in hiding in the "Author Protection Program)_


	14. Chapter 14

Egon stepped away from the edge of the building, too stunned to react. All feeling drained from him in that one instance as sheer intellectual instinct took over. Turning back toward Victoria, he noticed a brief flicker go through her eyes. It was the same flicker he had seen in her eyes at the hospital after she had snapped at him. The same flicker she would get when they were children and she had accidentally broken some invention of his.

Guilt. Guilt that was squelched down by Groden with nauseating swiftness, but guilt nonetheless. This meant that it wasn't too late. The merge hadn't been completed yet, and Victoria was still in there. Most importantly, it meant that that they still had a chance of separating the two.

Without so much as a word, Egon turned his proton pack to full power.

"Fool," Groden spat. "You haven't even learned your lesson yet have you? You are so filled with rage that you plan on killing your own flesh and blood to get to me?"

"Actually, no," Egon commented calmly, sliding his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. "Admittedly, I haven't felt quite myself since that incident with your brother, but I'm feeling much better now. In fact, I must say that for the first time in over a week, my head is totally clear. I simply know what I need to do now, and I plan on doing it."

The proton pack hummed loudly, sending a blast of whitish-green light forth. The beam hit Groden full in the chest, sending her reeling backwards into a metal air vent. A piece of the vent broke off, flying toward Winston. He ducked just in time to avoid it tearing into his throat, though it left a cut on his left cheek.

A deep, guttural growl issued from Victoria's mouth.

"You dare!" she seethed, pushing against the vent to stand up straight. She tried stepping forward; only to find that trying to move with the beam surrounding her was like trying to walk through a tornado. She wasn't completely immobilized, but she also didn't have free movement.

"Hey, gangrenous!" Winston yelled, adding his beam to Egon's. "Eat protons!"

It was enough. Hitting her from the side, Victoria's body stopped in mid-movement. Her face contorted with anger as she tried to break free of the particle beams holding her. She screamed in pain and frustration.

"Egon!" Winston screamed over the noise. "Quick! Use your do-hicky thing before it's too late!"

"I can't," Egon called back. "If I stop my beam, we might lose her. We need to keep at least two beams on her! Ray, can you …?"

"I'm on it!" Aiming haphazardly, his proton gun wedged firmly between his torso and his injured arm, Ray nudged his pack up to full power. The whitish-green beam erupted from it, hitting the roof and sending chunks of concrete and dust flying up in all directions.

"Hey, watch what you're doing, will you?" cried Winston, trying to duck, yet again, without losing his beam.

"Oops. Sorry," Ray shouted, using his left hand to re-adjust his aim. Finally it was in position with the other two beams.

As soon as Egon felt it was safe, with the other two beams secured firmly on his cousin's body, he quickly shut his own beam off and reached for the device he had carried up the four flights of stairs with him. It still had some of the markings of Victoria's earlier project on it, but most had been lost when Egon combined it with his ecto de-amplifier. What was now sitting on the ground before him no longer resembled a cross between a castle and a TV. Instead it looked more like an old-fashioned film camera with a foot peddle.

Egon opened one of the side panels, flicking switches and pressing buttons. The device started shaking and buzzing. Turning on last knob, he stepped back.

"Cut the beams … Now!"

Ray and Winston turned off the beams as soon as a blast of bright blue light shot out of the de-amplifier/compressor, enveloping Victoria from head to foot. Egon pulled down his goggles so that it was easier to watch the transformation he hoped would take place. He needed to be able to see everything because it had to be timed just right or they risked losing the ghost and killing Victoria.

Victoria's body began to twist in agony. Her scream doubled in on itself and everything within the blue light took on a colorless caste. To the remaining ghostbusters it was like watching a late night black and white TV program during a lightning storm. Victoria's body shifted and doubled and tripled and merged over and over again until finally a grey wisp of smoke began to stream out of every pore and orifice of her body.

"This is it!" Egon yelled, turning up the de-amplifier/compressor. The smoke thickened around Victoria, coalescing into a more solid form as it did so, and beginning to move on its own, while her body finally started taking on a more normal looking appearance. Her face and body flushed out, the veins shrinking back to hide once more under the more natural tone of skin while the claws disappeared from the ends of her hands.

"Wait for it to finish forming," Egon called out about the roar of the machine and Victoria's and Groden's echoing cries.

Ray let his proton gun drop to the ground so he could get to the trap that lay next to him. He fumbled around for it, but it was no use. His right arm hung uselessly at his side and every time he tried to grasp the trap in his good hand, pain shot viciously through his entire right side, from the waist up. Finally he gave up and took to just nudging the infernal contraption out in front of him so that it was within Winston's reach. Even that was painful, but not nearly as painful as his previous attempts to grab it himself.

"Winston! The trap!"

Winston nodded in understanding and slipped over, grabbing the trap. With a single, long swing he slid the trap into position and waited. It didn't take long before the smoke was almost completely solid, and the face of Groden, broke forth on it.

"Now!" Egon shouted.

Winston brought his hands down full-force onto the traps button, ignoring his own bit of pain as his injured hand throbbed in protest. Light leapt up from the trap, adding to the light from the de-amplifier and bathing the entire block in blinding brilliance.

Winston, Ray and Egon each held up an arm to help shield their eyes from the light. Luckily it only lasted for a second or two. It died down and the trap light blinked.

"We got him," Winston breathed in relief.

The trio of ghostbusters looked up to find Victoria, her head bowed down, her body slouched and swaying in the breeze, ready to fall over at a moment's notice from her brain. A stumbled step on her part showed them that she was still fully conscious, though how aware of the situation she was had yet to be determined.

"Victoria?" Egon asked as he took a timid step forward. His cousin held her hand up to her head and slowly began looking around, her face a mask of confusion.

Egon breathed a sigh of relief as he started to walk toward her. The less she remembered the better as far as he was concerned. She looked over at him as he came closer and her expression changed from that of confusion to one of total horror. All color drained from her face.

"Oh … God …." She quickly clasped her hands to her mouth and stumbled backwards. Egon stopped, his brow furrowed once again in worry.

'_Damn,'_ he thought

"Victoria?" Egon spoke softly in as calm a voice as he could muster, all things considered. "It's going to be okay."

Victoria's eyes fell over the spot where Peter had been thrown from the building and made a choking noise as tears spelled from her eyes. She shook uncontrollably, looking first at Winston, then Ray and finally back at Egon again.

Egon reached out a hand to her only to have her push it away. She turned and ran for the stairs, pausing only to look down at Ray as she passed him.

"Victoria," Ray started, reaching out to her as well, but she fled before he could say another word. Egon stood in muted silence as he watched her disappear down the stairs.

"Peter!" he exclaimed, suddenly remembering their friend. "Winston, stay here with Ray. And call 911!"

Without another word, the blonde raced down the stairs to his best friend's side.

"Do you have your phone?" Winston asked. Ray nodded numbly.

"Right here." Wincing in pain, he reached into his pocket with his left hand and pulled out his cell phone.

Ray handed it to and looked away as the fourth member of their group made the necessary phone call. When he was done he looked at Ray.

"You don't think …," he started to say, but his friend stopped him with a look.

"He's alive," Ray said defiantly, though the look of worry on his face showed that he wasn't entirely convinced by his own words. Still, he continued on. "He's alive, and he'll be fine. He has to be…."

"Yeah," nodded Winston in the same uneasy conviction. "Yeah, he'll be fine…."

* * *

For all intents and purposes Egon flew down the stairs, his feet barely touching the ground, in his rush to get to Peter. The illusion of the hotel as it had been so many years ago had faded into nothingness, leaving only the bare reality of a deserted, decaying theater behind. Meanwhile, the vision of his friend, the first best friend he had ever had, one of the few best friends he had ever had, lying on the street below, his body broken and bleeding, sent Egon's mind reeling so that he did not even notice that the illusion had been dropped.

This was not supposed to happen. It was never supposed to happen. They were professionals. Sure there were risks involved. That was true of any job. Somehow though, they had always managed to slide in just under the radar of such risk. Now they had had two brushes with it in less than two weeks.

He slammed his way through the front door and raced around to the rear of the building. His thoughts going through his head nearly as fast as his feet were going along the ground.

He had joked about Peter's death. A pang of guilt ripped through his heart. It had been a joke, that's all. It didn't mean anything. It was just an innocent comment, that's all. And yet ….

It didn't matter what he saw up there on the roof. He knew Peter was not dead. Peter couldn't be dead. They had been through too much together. From the first day they had met in college, when fate had made them roommates all the way to them becoming business partners. True, Egon hadn't cared for Peter at first. He had found him to be lazy, unruly and egotistical. The fact that every other sentence to come out of Peter's mouth had been an insult of some sort had also not endeared the scientist to him.

Of course it hadn't taken long for Egon to realize that those insults weren't actually insults at all, but Peter's wry sense of humor. A defense mechanism to keep the world from getting too close to him. It had been that realization that had made living with the man so much easier. Hadn't Egon been doing the same thing, keeping the world away, with his endless hours of hiding his nose in books?

It started when Peter decided to use his roommate as the subject for a psychology paper. After having the would-be parapsychologist hovering over him for almost three months, writing down every little thing Egon did, said, eat and drank; it was hard not to be infected by Peter's personality and vice-versa. Egon loosened up a bit and begun cracking his own monotone, sardonic jokes and insults while Peter actually started to mellow out enough to get some semi-serious studying done at the university. Still, he tended to skate along with a grade point average just high enough to keep his scholarships going.

It was sad really, considering that Peter was almost a certified genius himself. He had gotten into school because he had aced the SATs, the ACTs and the ASVAB in high school. He had even, on a dare or a lark, Egon was never sure which, taken the LSATs and passed those with flying colors. Though his grade point average had been almost constant C's. Egon remembered thinking at the time that Peter could be truly great, if he just applied himself more and took some pride in his work.

But he was great, wasn't he? Peter may not be the most reliable person in the world, and he definitely wasn't the most serious, but he was still great. His greatness shown everyday in the way he made the others smile when they were sad, or made them direct their anger at him instead of each other, thus preventing more than one serious fight that might otherwise have broken the Ghostbusters up. It was psychology at its most basic. Peter knew how the human mind worked. He also knew how to read people and thus, how to bring out the best or the worst in them as the situation called for.

The way he charmed everyone around him was almost awe-inspiring. He was always there to listen when you had a problem, bringing a refreshing look on almost any situation. He made sense, even when the world didn't. Most of all he was always there to crack a smile or to crack a joke or to crack ….

_His head …. So much blood …._

Egon stopped in mid-step as he rounded the final corner. There lay Peter Venkman, unmoving. His eyes were closed, his head lolled to the side as blood continued to seep from the back. His skin had gone pale and his ankle was mangled and bloated as well as a severe shade of purplish blue. The sight turned Egon's stomach, threatening to over flow his mouth with the taste of bile.

Still, Egon stepped forward. This time his movements were slower, giving him time to steel himself against what he now viewed as the inevitable.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. They were never supposed to die. _He_ was never supposed to die.

Egon collapsed next to his friend and gently reached out to touch his chest. His breath suddenly caught in his throat, threatening to choke him. His chest heaved with emotion. It rose and fell, almost in sync with the labored breathing of his oldest and dearest friend.

There was still breath in those lungs and life in that body. Peter Venkman was still alive. At least for the moment. It was enough to make a grown man cry. And that was exactly what Egon Spangler found himself doing.

* * *

_**A/N: **Okay, you didn't honestly think I was going to kill him, right? This **is** Peter Venkman we are talking about (and my personal favorite of all the Ghostbusters). I may torture him now and again, but I would never **kill** him. LOL  
_

_Anyway, the good guys have beaten the bad guy but this is **not **the end yet. There are still a few more chapters. Broken pieces that need to be picked up and fixed. Also, just so everyone is aware, I will be making some corrections to past chapters, that I had missed the first time around. Don't know when I will get the chance to do that, but I will. I don't plan on making any big changes, but thought I would warn people all the same._

**_Ormandria _**


	15. Chapter 15

_Okay, Hello and welcome! Sorry it has taken me SO long to update. It has been a very "interesting" year to say the least, filled with many personal, work and computer issues. But here I am, back and with a working computer once more (YAY my Sister!!!! Thank you!!!!!) and the creative juices flowing once more. Hopefully this means that I will be able to update all my stories soon as well as getting back to work on my novel._

_Anyway, here is Chap. 15. Hope you like and as always, reviews are welcome!!!!_

_**Ormandria**_

* * *

Victoria ran, not bothering to keep track of where it was she was going. She had gone numb inside, so she simply let her feet take her wherever they may. All she knew was that she needed to get as far away as possible. Yet try as she might, she couldn't.

Everything Groden had done, everything she had done, over the last seventy-two hours played through her mind like a bad movie. Except this was worse. With movies, one always had the option of walking out on them, should the person decide they didn't like it. Where as with this, she was stuck. It hadn't just been Groden doing it. She had joined him. She had felt his anger, his hatred and his evil. They had become a part of her.

The mere thought that she could enjoy doing that sent waves of naseua through her stomach. The vision of Peter flying from the roof imposed itself at the forefront of her mind, causing Victoria to run down a small side alley to hide. There, her legs weakened, her stomach and head spinning and her shaking body so tired and sore that it couldn't move anymore, Victoria collapsed in a huddled puddle of tears and began to retch upon the ground..

How long she had run, and how long she sat there and vomited, she had no idea. It seemed like a lifetime twice over. With each heave of her stomach her tears eased a bit more until there was nothing left to come out of her mouth or her eyes, but bitter dryness. She was finally empty. She leaned back, staring at the mess in front of her. The mess that she had created. The mess that for all intents and purposes had become her life. For the first time since she had fled the hotel she paid attention to her surroundings and began to pull herself up.

She had to leave New York. There was no way she could face the ghostbusters again after what had happened. No way she could face Egon again. She reached her hand into her pocket to find it empty. Everything she had with her, including her wallet and money, were back at the firestation.

Still running on automatic out of mere shock, she turned in a daze and walked out of the alley.

* * *

After several hours, Victoria found herself standing in front of the firehouse again. She swallowed inadvertently, desperately fighting away her fear. The chances of the ghostbusters being back was nil. She knew that in her gut. Peter was probably dead - a wave of guilt-induced naseua swept her once more and she pushed the thought back out of her mind - and the Ray had looked severly injured. Most likely they were at the hospital.

But that still left Janine, Slimer and Jasper. What was she going to say to them? How could she explain what had transpired up on that roof? Or any of the things that had led up to it for that matter? Still, she had to get her things if she was to leave.

Not that she knew where she would go. Somehow going home did not feel right anymore either. The same small part of her mind that had screamed against Groden when he was a part of her knew that Egon would eventually come looking for her. And she was loath to let him find her that easily.

She slowly opened the door to walk in.

"Hold it right there!" Janine screamed from behind the desk. The whirl of the proton pack on her back a clear indication that it was on, and the look upon the secretaries face should that she would use it without a second thought.

Victoria stopped in her tracks, briefly toying with the idea of rushing the woman in a mad attempt to make her use it. At least then she would be put out of her misery. She waited too long though. Janine caught the look in her eyes and slowly pointed the tip away just enough so that she could bring it back up quickly if needed.

"Victoria? Is that you?" Janine seemed slightly unsure.

"I ..." Victoria hesitated, unable to speak.

Janine stared at the scared young woman who stood there looking as though her world had come to a complete and utter end, and she knew she had her answer.

"Oh, thank God!" she exclaimed, turning off the pack and putting it down on her desk. "Slimer! Jasper! They're back!" She stopped, glancing around the firestation.

"Were are the guys? I thought they'd come back with you. Or did they have to run out on another call? It's just like them to leave a person to fend for themselves once the crisis is over." Janine took a step toward Victoria, who suddenly jumped back like a frightened rabbit.

"Victoria? What's wrong? What happened? Where are the guys?"

Victoria didn't answer. Instead she looked for a way past Janine and saw the stairs leading up as her only way out. Suddenly the ghosts came upstairs, hesitantly looking for the guys. When they saw only Victoria, Slimer quivered a little.

"Victoria?" he asked, and Victoria looked up into his great big green eyes. Jasper recognized her as herself immediately and shot toward her at rapid speed. Before he reached her though, she began running for the stairs, avoiding anymore and all eye contact with the three as she did so.

"I'm ...," she yelled as she passed. "I'm sorry!"

Jasper stopped in his tracks confused. He looked back at Janine and Slimer who looked equally confused as they stared at the stairs in wonder. They heard the door to the ghostbusters room slam open and shut, and Janine wasn't positive, but she could have sworn she heard the lock click to it as well.

Jasper began to follow but Janine stopped him.

"No. Better let her be. At least until we hear from the guys and know what happened." With that the secretary to the ghostbusters sat down at her desk, picked up her magazine from earlier and began flipping through it without any real interest.

* * *

"Ghostbusters," Janine answered the phone absentmindedly.

"Janine, it's Egon," came the male voice on the other end of the phone.

"Egon! Where are you? What happened? I've been worried sick!" Janine barely took a breath as she rushed into a litany of questions, including whether or not Victoria was free from all ghostly possession. After all, with Victoria just upstairs, she wanted to make absolutely sure that she should not be running for the hills at this very moment in time. Egon finally interrupted.

"Janine, calm down. Yes, we managed to separate Victoria and the ghost, but things got a little … rough. Anyway, we're at the hospital now."

"The hospital? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a few minor bruises," he remarked, as if black-eyes and bruises were an everyday occurrence.

"And the others?"

"Winston is fine too, some minor cuts and bruises, but nothing more. However it looks like Ray might have a concussion as well as a dislocated shoulder and a couple of cracked ribs. They're going to keep him over night for observation. Winston and I figured we'd stay overnight as well. Just in case he needs anything."

Janine could almost hear Egon hesitate before going on. She realized he hadn't mentioned Peter yet. That meant that whatever had happened to Peter had been far worse than what had happened to any of the others.

"And Peter?" she prodded, not knowing if she wanted to know the answer. The haunted look on Victoria's face has she had come through the doors flashed through her mind.

It took a moment for Egon to answer and when he finally did, it was in an extremely controlled voice. The type he used when he was trying not to let anyone know he just how worried or scared he was.

"Peter …," Egon swallowed uncertainly. He wanted to chose his words carefully, but wasn't sure how to without making it look like Victoria was the bad guy. Finally he decided to just ignore that part for the moment. "Peter was hurt pretty badly. He was thrown from the roof of the building."

Janine felt her stomach drop as she slid down into her chair.

"They had to take him into surgery right away," Egon continued. "They said he was pretty lucky. He landed on a pile of garbage and it probably saved his life. Still, he cracked his head open, broke his arm and shattered his ankle. They're going to pin his ankle together and cast his arm, but they're worried about the head injury. There's some minor bleeding and swelling in the brain and they need to …," Egon choked on the words.

"I understand," replied Janine, in no rush to make Egon finish. As difficult as it was for her to listen, she could only imagine how difficult it was for him to say.

"Anyway, we figured it best if we stuck around here until we know what's going on," Egon finished.

"One more thing, Janine," Egon's voice was trembling once again. "When … When we separated Groden from Victoria … she took off. She was extremely upset and I have no idea where …"

"She's here. She came wondering in a few minutes ago in a complete daze. She went straight upstairs without telling us what had happened."

Egon sighed in relief. "Good," he said. "Can you do me a favor and stay at the station house tonight? I'd feel a lot better knowing that there was someone other than Slimer and Jasper there with her."

"All right," Janine answered. "I'll see you in the morning then."

"Yeah. And Janine? Thank you." Egon hung up the phone without waiting for a response, though Janine muttered "You're welcome," anyway.

Putting the phone back in its cradle, she pulled the cord out so that it wouldn't ring again anytime soon. The thought of answering phone calls at this moment in time made her stomach turn. Any call that came in would go straight to voice mail and if it was Egon or Winston, they'd just call her cell phone.

'_Thrown from the roof….'_ The roof was three stories up. She knew that, because it had been in that very building that Groden's brother had tried to kill her not so long ago. _'Bleeding and swelling in the brain ….'_ Janine knew what that meant as well, and it was never minor, no matter what Egon said. It meant that Peter Venkman, bane of her existence, but friend nonetheless, might very well be dying at this very moment.

Janine shuddered as she wrapped her arms around her body to keep herself warm, even though it wasn't the least bit cold in the firehouse.


	16. Chapter 16

**_A/N:_ Here it is. Finally another update. Sorry for the wait. Hopefully you will find it worth it. If I can get another chapter done in the next week, then I should be able to post at least two more as I have most of the chapter _following_ the next one mapped out as well as mostly written. So ... Go Me! Yay!  
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_**Ormandria

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"Is everything okay?" asked Slimer in a worried voice.

"Ye … yeah," Janine smiled, trying to keep as upbeat an attitude as was humanly possible at the moment. No need to worry the ghosts about it. "Everything's fine. The guys are just … they're just …."

She couldn't do it. She couldn't lie to Slimer. Not when Peter was in the condition that he was in. Peter was Slimer's best friend, even if Peter refused to admit it. The little ghost had been attached to the brunette from the very first moment he slimed him. A rather disgusting, albeit strong bonding moment for the two. Well, for Slimer at least.

Janine wiped away the tears that had started falling. She looked at Slimer, and could tell that he didn't believe her. Even Jasper had an extremely worried look on his face.

"Listen, I'm sure they're fine. They have to be. They're the Ghostbusters after all…. Anyway, you guys should try to get some sleep. The guys won't be coming back until tomorrow morning at the earliest."

Slimer started to protest while Jasper started looking for a new place to hide, but Janine cut them both off quickly.

"Don't worry. I'm going to stay here tonight, so you won't be alone. Besides, Egon informed me that Victoria is indeed completely ghost free. So we have nothing to worry about anyway. Now I'm going to take her some clothes and go check on her. Now get some sleep. You can use the blankets in Peter's office."

Slimer and Jasper nodded a bit uncertainly before flying through the makeshift door and grabbing the blankets. With that, they flew over to a corner, where they would be able to see Janine at her desk should they wake up and readied themselves for sleep.

* * *

Victoria entered the bathroom, her eyes closing briefly as she recalled the horrific look on Slimer's face from the last time she had been in this room. Her stomach heaved again, almost in warning, so she quickly pushed the image as far back as she could. Instead she focused on her face. It still had a pale green sea-sick like tinge about it, as well as being smudged with dirt from the alleyway. In the small enclosed room, she could smell the stench of the vomit on her hair and clothes.

She sank to the floor, wanting to cry, but somehow unable, when she heard a light tapping on the door.

"Victoria? It's me," Janine's voice carried through the door. "I … I brought you up some clean clothes. I thought you might want to get cleaned up while you're in there."

The young blonde didn't answer.

"Well, I'll leave them outside of the door for you then."

She heard Janine gently place the clothes on the floor and waited for the sound of her walking away. It didn't come. Instead, after a long pause, Janine spoke one last time.

"By the way, I talked to Egon. He said that … that they got Peter to the hospital. He's in surgery, but Egon says they have really high hopes that he's gonna be fine. I … I just thought you might want to know that."

"Anyway, I'm gonna stay here tonight, so I'll be downstairs with Slimer and Jasper if you want to talk later."

With that, Victoria heard the secretary leave the room, shutting the door behind her. Slowly standing up, she began unbuttoning her blouse. Yes, a shower, cleaning up. That sounded good. She reached into the shower and turned the water on as hot as she could stand it, and then a bit hotter still. Her clothes fell to the floor and she stepped in, feeling the water caress over her strangely dry face. She stared at her bare hands.

There was slime on her hands. She couldn't see it, but she could feel it. So much slime on the hands that, for all intents and purposes, had pushed Peter off the building's roof. It wasn't just her hands that were slimy either. She could feel her body covered in the stuff.

Her chest heaved as her breath came harder and harder. Her vision blurred. She scrubbed her hands together furiously. When that didn't seem to work, she grabbed the bar of Lava that was sitting in the soap dish and used it. Victoria pressed so hard with the bar of soap that her hands began to hurt. She moved up her arms and then across her chest and back and then down her legs. When she was done with that, she started over again, more viciously than the first time.

When the water started to cool, she turned it hotter. So desperate to wash away the feel of Groden and the memories along with it, that she couldn't stop until she was so tired that she collapsed onto the shower floor in exhaustion.

Her skin was bright red and sore, feeling as though she had a bad sunburn in a few spots that she had paid particularly close attention to. The water had long since turned ice cold and would no longer go hot. So even though Victoria still felt unclean, she slowly reached up and turned the water off, before dragging herself out to dry off and get dressed into her clean clothes.

She winced as she did so, the fabric rubbing harshly against her now sensitive skin. When she had finished with that, she sat down on Winston's bed, her right hand absentmindedly scratching at her left arm.

Victoria tried to sleep in Ray's bed that night. She had gathered enough energy and thought to go and lock the door from the inside, not wanting to talk to nor to see Janine. How could she? How was she supposed to explain what she had done? Why she had done it? The fact that Janine had mentioned Peter was in surgery meant that Janine most likely knew what had happened. And the woman most likely hated her for it. Not that Victoria could blame her for that. She very much hated herself.

So she had stayed hidden away upstairs, behind a locked door, giving up all hope of leaving that night. Instead she tossed and turned in Ray's bed (the idea of using Egon's or Peter's absolutely horrified her), and continued to fight the overflow of memories. When she did finally dose off, it was not the respite that she had been hoping for.

Her dreams were nightmare visions of the atrocities that both she and Groden had committed. She could still hear him calling her name, entreating her to help him destroy the very people she loved. And in her dreams, she found herself once again following his instructions against her will. Only this time, when she woke up a few hours later, she remembered every detail of the dreams as clear as day. She spent the rest of the night awake and terrified.

Janine looked up at the clock, noting the time, when she heard the water stop. By her estimate, Egon's sister had been in the shower for a good two and a half hours. It was now well past midnight and Janine was getting extremely sleepy.

After several more minutes, she stood up to stretch and decided that it would be a good idea to try and check on Victoria again, but when she got upstairs, she found the door to the guys' bedroom locked.

Sighing, she turned to the kitchen, got herself a cup of coffee went back downstairs. She needed sleep and she needed it soon, but that would have to wait a little bit longer, until she was sure that Victoria herself was asleep and therefore not going to take off running.

* * *

Janine's eyes drifted over to a box from the Fourth of July celebration. In it were dozens of noise makers that Peter, Ray and Slimer had used to make everyone's lives miserable for the entire month of July. In that one instance, Janine was hit with a wave of inspiration that Peter himself would be envious of. Grabbing her coffee and the box, Janine headed back downstairs.

With this, she had no doubt that she would be able to get some sleep soon.

* * *

Sunlight drifted through the quite firehouse as particles of dust played in its rays. The only sign of life in the main area was the red-haired woman whose head rested on her desk, her back rising and falling with each breath, and the two ghosts, if they could be considered alive in any way, shape or form, who floated, nuzzled in next to each other in the corner.

Janine shifted slightly in her sleep momentarily as the clock ticked on toward noon. Upstairs, Victoria continued to stare at the cold brick walls of the surrounding room, unseeing, unmoving and unthinking. She was the only one already awake when Janine's makeshift alarm sounded.

Winston and Ray immediately clapped their hands over their ears as they entered the firehouse. Janine jumped up from her desk and the two ghosts spurred awake like a bullet train as the sped toward the basement door for cover.

Bells, buzzers, clappers and all sorts of other childish noisemakers rang briefly, but loudly, to announce the arrival of the two men standing in the doorway, caught among a spider web of strings that reached up to their waists.

"What on earth is this?" Winston cried out. He reached down to untangle Ray and himself from the mess. Each movement bringing more noise.

"How should I know," Ray remarked, still clasping his left hand to his left ear despite the pain in his chest. "Whatever it is, it's loud!"

"Ray! Winston!" Janine shouted in exuberance. She ran up and grabbed Ray in a fierce hug, causing him to scream out in pain.

"Oh! Sorry! I forgot!" She released him. Behind her Slimer came reeling straight at Winston, knocking him over and causing another round of noise to ring up.

"Uhf!" Winston grunted in surprise. "What is with all this stuff?" he asked.

"Oh, I set that up so that if Victoria tried to leave in the middle of the night, I'd hear her." Janine began untying the noise makers and clearing them out.

"Egon mentioned she'd returned. Where is she?" Ray looked around, as though she might pop out from behind something at any second.

Janine paused. "Last time I checked, she was upstairs, locked in you guys' room."

"What do you mean last time you checked?" Winston replied, finally getting free from the tangle and tossing it to the side.

"What do you mean locked in?" Ray remarked.

"Just that," she shrugged. "Last night she came back right before Egon called. Barely spoke to any of us, and then ran straight upstairs."

"Uh-huh!" Slimer confirmed.

"I went to check on her but she was in the bathroom for over two hours and when she got out, she locked the door. As far as I know she hasn't come out since."

"Gee… I hope she's alright," Ray looked toward the stairs.

"Let's give her a bit longer and then go check on her ourselves," Winston remarked uneasily. "She probably just needs some rest."

"Yeah …," Ray nodded. "Heck, I could use some rest myself. And a shower does sound like just the thing. But first, some food!"

"I'm with ya there on the food!" Winston laughed. "But I first I need to put this … bugger in the containment unit." He held up the trap that still had Groden encased in it. "Wouldn't want this guy getting out again."

"No, we wouldn't," the other ghostbuster agreed quietly.

Both ghostbusters made their way to the respective stairs. Both were hoping that they could make it out without anyone asking the dreaded question. But it was no use. No sooner had they reached the end of the lockers than Janine blurted out the question in question.

"What about Peter?"

Ray and Winston stopped mid-stride. Winston clenched his fist as Ray swallowed. It was Ray that turned around first, a sad smile on his face.

Slimer stared back and forth between the secretary and the two ghostbusters.

"What happened to Peter?" he asked. "Ray?"

"It's okay, little guy," Winston walked back and patted the ghost on the head. "It was just a little accident. Nothing to worry over. Hey, I know, why don't you and Jasper come with me? I need to check out the containment unit while I'm down there anyway, so I could use the help."

"O … Okay," Slimer motioned the blue ghost to follow and the three wondered downstairs.

Ray waited until the door was shut and they were out of ear shot before answering Janine's question. "He came out of surgery fine, but … he still hasn't regained consciousness quite yet. Egon is going to stay with him most of the day while Winston and I get some rest and clean up. Then we plan on taking shifts. That way, someone is there if … _when_ he wakes up."

"In that case, I'd like to take a shift too."

"You, Janine? Why?"

"Well, Peter's my friend too, and I can't just stay here all day and do nothing."

"Okay," Ray smiled, more genuinely this time. "Then we will let you take a shift as well."

"So do the doctor's know when he's going to wake up?"

"No," Ray shook his head. "They said that the longer it takes him to wake up, the less his changes of waking up are. The first twenty-four to forty-eight hours are the most important. If he doesn't regain consciousness after that …."

The sound of a loud inhaling from upstairs caught the pair's attention and they looked up to see Victoria staring at them in disbelief, one hand on her mouth, the other wrapped around her abdomen.

"Victoria," Ray said starting to go forward. But just as the night before, when Egon had tried to approach her, she backed away before turning and running. This time, it was to the lab, whose door could be heard slamming shut.

"Damn," he muttered.

"Maybe I should go relieve Egon now."

"Yeah. I think maybe you should. Hopefully he can talk to her."

* * *

Janine grabbed her purse and immediately took off for the hospital, leaving it to Ray and Winston to keep an eye on Egon's cousin. She drove by a donut shop, grabbed a mixed batch and a couple of cups of coffee on the way.

She liked to think that she knew the scientist quite well, and chances of him having had breakfast were slim unless Ray or Winston had forced it on him. And she wanted to make sure he had eaten before he drove back to the station in her car.

The drive to the hospital somehow seemed longer than it had the week before. She still didn't have all the details of what had happened, and as such, her imagination was given to wondering about it quite a bit. But the answers she was wanting would have to wait a little bit longer.

When she got to the hospital, she had to ask a nurse for assistance. She found out that Peter was still in ICU, and while normally only family would be allowed in, they had made an exception since just about everyone in the city was familiar with the "Ghostbusters." Especially at this hospital, where they almost always ended up for treatment whenever there was an accident. Therefore, they let her in right away.

"How is he?" she asked as entered the room.

Egon didn't bother to look up from his sitting position next to Peter's bed. "Still unconscious. But his vital signs look good. They gave him a massive transfusion and set his arm and ankle and even managed to subdue the swelling in his head before it caused any permanent damage."

"So do they know why he hasn't woken up yet?"

"No. And that's the problem."

"Here," Janine set the donuts on the table and then handed one of the coffee's to Egon.

"Thanks," he said as he rubbed his eyes and took the cup.

"So have you been up all night?" she asked.

"Yes. It's been hell keeping the reporters at bay. Apparently someone tipped them off that we had been seen going into that old theater before the ambulances showed up."

"Ambulances?"

"Yeah. One for Peter and one for Ray. They insisted he be taken in one as well. So I rode here with Peter and Winston drove Ecto-1." Egon took a long sip while Janine placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Well, I came here to relieve you so that you could go home and get some rest."

"I really don't need to Janine," the blonde started to object.

"Yes," she insisted. "You do. Victoria … Victoria needs you right now. She spent all night and all morning hiding away."

"Victoria," Egon sighed, looking once again at Peter. "Alright. I'll head back then. But call me the moment there is any kind of change. Got it?"

"Yeah. I will." Janine moved so that her friend could get up and watched him leave. Once gone, she sat herself in the same chair he had been in moments before and took up the vigil for her other dear friend.


End file.
